


Knives and Frogs Galore

by natural_by_design



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pidge, Heeeere we go, I guess a slow-burn?, M/M, Modern AU, Mostly Lance can't handle bio and Keith takes care of him, broganes, college students, i'm so bad at tags, idek, probably some background Shatt?, some quality pining action happening b/c what else do we expect from our two favorite idiots?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-03-29 09:11:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13923984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natural_by_design/pseuds/natural_by_design
Summary: Keith and Lance are lab partners in their biology class. When the dissection unit comes around, Keith is more than eager to start, although Lance has some reservations about the whole thing...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, all! Thanks for reading, it really means a lot. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this one, although it will have at least 2-3 chapters depending on how people are responding and how I just generally feel about it.  
> Find me on tumblr (if you want) @ natural-by-design

“The problem with all this,” Lance McClain said bitterly. “Is that there’s no good reason to slice into a dead animal. I mean, we don’t need it for meat or anything, right? There’s no survival instincts involved. So really, it’s technically animal cruelty, which is frowned upon in—”

“Lance,” Keith Kogane interrupted, looking up from the form he was studying. “It’s a dead frog. Shut up and come look at this.”

Lance remained where he was. “What is it?”

Keith sighed, which was a pretty common reaction when dealing with Lance. “It’s the thing that Professor Coran just spent the last five minutes explaining, idiot.”

Lance thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not ringing any bells.”

Keith looked around at the rest of the lab. All of their classmates were finishing filling out the paper, and Keith groaned. The one day when he was genuinely interested and wanting to participate…He looked back down at the paper. “It’s a form that says we’re agreeing to this, so we don’t cause any problems.”

Lance scoffed. “I am _not_ agreeing to this.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Come on, man. It’ll be interesting, and it might even be fun.”

“Sure, Mr. I-keep-throwing-knives-under-my-pillow.”

“I don’t keep them—” Keith stopped himself with another sigh. “Look, if it gets too bad, you can just look away or something. In fact, you don’t even really need to be involved. But I can’t do this unless you sign the sheet, so just sign it. Please?”

Lance’s eyes softened and Keith thought he had him. At least, until his nose crinkled and he glanced away. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“Please,” Keith begged. “You can sign it and then go for a really long ‘bathroom break’.”

Lance looked back at him, clearly conflicted. “But I don’t want to leave you. What if you need help?”

Keith couldn’t help his smile. “Seriously, Lance. I think I’ll manage, but thanks all the same.”

Lance eyed the paper like it might bite him. “I wouldn’t have to do anything?”

“Nothing but sign and look away.” Keith slid the paper over to him.

Lance hesitated, and then laughed. “This suddenly feels super shady.”

Keith shoved his shoulder. “Stop talking and sign, dork.”

He did, with a grimace.

“Thank you,” Keith practically sang. “I’ll go grab the specimen and supplies. You…stay here and look upset.”

When Keith got back to his seat, burden with materials, he was mildly surprised to find Lance still there, looking pale but determined.

In response to Keith’s questioning look, he shrugged. “I couldn’t leave. Sue me.”

Keith snorted and went through a complicated juggling act as he attempted to place everything safely on the table. “You’ll have to actually do work, then.”

Lance nodded. “I know. You can tell me what to write and I’ll mark it down; I just don’t want to have to look at its—” He gagged a little on the word. “—its insides.”

Keith tried to restrain his laugh because, _no, brain,_ _Lance was not cute_. “I can work with that.”

They settled into a comfortable silence, with Keith slicing and dicing and Lance occasionally jotting down the facts and figures that Keith tossed his way.

When things went south it was, of course, Lance’s fault. Keith looked over, once, for no particular reason, only to find Lance hesitating before slowly but surely turning his head toward Keith and the lab in process.

_Oh, no._ Keith opened his mouth to yell at Lance to look the other way, what the hell did he think he was doing—but it was too late. Lance’s eyes had landed and caught on the frog, and he was in the process of turning a very interesting shade of green.

“Goddammit,” he managed through gritted teeth. “I wasn’t going to look, but I was just so _curious_ …”

Keith realized the idiot was still staring and moved hastily to block his view. “Lance, stop looking at it!”

Lance looked dangerously close to passing out. His chair legs scraped against the floor as he pushed back from their table and stood up, one hand moving to cover his mouth. “Sorry, mullet, but I gotta—” He gestured vaguely toward the door with his thumb. “I’ll catch ya later, I just—urp—” He dashed for the door, passing their professor, who waved him on with a concerned expression.

Keith watched him go. To the frog he muttered, “He knew what would happen, but he just had to go and do it anyway.”

From the table behind theirs, one of their best friends leaned forward. “Hey, genius,” Pidge Holt called. “Go after him sometime this century, why don’t you?”

With a jolt, Keith turned around to face them. “Do you think I should? I mean, not only that he might not want me there, but we’ll probably fail the class if this project doesn’t get finished.”

Pidge scoffed and gestured at their partner, who winked at Keith. “Hunk and I are super busy. So busy, in fact, that we might even just wander over there and finish the project for you.”

Keith straightened in his seat. “For real? Thank you.”

Hunk nodded toward the door. “Go get ‘em, cowboy.”

With a final smile at the two of them, Keith dropped his pencil and hurried out the door after his lab partner.

He found him sitting on the floor of the hallway, not far from the lab’s door. He was sitting with his knees propped up and his head hanging toward his lap, his back rising and falling with uneven breaths.

Keith crouched next to him, pushing the goggles he still had on from the lab up to the top of his head, effectively holding back his mop of black hair. Lance still hadn’t looked up, so Keith laid a gentle hand on his back. His warm skin heated Keith’s hand even through his soft, blue t-shirt.

Lance finally looked up. “Hey,” he gave Keith a shaky smile. “What are you doing out here?”

Keith rolled his eyes, hyperaware of his hand still casually resting on the other boy’s back. “My partner literally ran out on me, Lance. What do you think I’m doing out here?”

With a sigh, Lance leaned his head back to rest it against the wall. “Your partner, huh?”

Keith shifted to sit down next to him. He had to remove his hand to do so, and he almost immediately missed the source of warmth. “We’ve been working together for a year and a half. Of course we’re partners, did you manage to hit your head somehow?”

Lance smirked, although he was still pale enough to make Keith worry. “Forget it. You should go back in so at least one of us passes this class.”

“Forget it.” Keith repeated. “I’m not leaving you like this.”

Lance turned his head against the wall to make eye contact with Keith. His blue eyes were soft. “That’s sweet, mullet. But seriously, we need this grade.”

Keith kept his face smooth. “Too bad.”

“Keith!” Lance leaned over to punch his arm, then returned to his previous position with a groan. “C’mon, man. Please?”

Keith let his laughter escape. “I’m just teasing you, McClain. Hunk and Pidge are taking care of finishing it up.”

Lance tried to look annoyed, but Keith could see right past it. “Thanks for letting me know, dick.”

"Bastard.”

“Jerk.”

Keith settled back against the wall, watching Lance from the corner of his eye. His color looked better, but his expression was vaguely twisted in discomfort and his warm, brown skin wasn’t quite back to the shade that it should have been. “Lance,” he said after a moment. “Let me walk you back to your dorm. You need to lay down.”

Lance waved him off. “I’m fine, I promise. My system is just a bit messed up.”

Keith reached over and felt his forehead. It was clammy, and Keith withdrew his hand in alarm as all the color drained from Lance’s face and his head slumped forward again. “Lance,” Keith gently shook the other boy’s shoulder. There was no response, so he shook a little harder. “Lance!”

After another tense moment, Lance’s head slowly raised and his eyes fluttered open. “What? What’s happening?”

Keith crumpled against Lance’s shoulder. “Oh, my god. You scared me.” He tried to calm his racing heart. “How can you go from vomiting to fainting? I wasn’t at all prepared.”

“That makes two of us.” Lance replied. “Although, come to think of it, your voice sounded kind of fuzzy before I passed out.” A pause. “Out of curiosity, are you planning on staying there all day?”

Keith jolted backward away from Lance’s shoulder, cheeks flaming. “I’m so sorry.”

Lance cocked an eyebrow at him. “No one said I was complaining.”

If possible, Keith’s cheeks felt even hotter. “Please let me take you home. There’s no way I’m letting you go back to class after you _fainted_.”

Lance groaned. “You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?”

Keith looked at him, surprised. “I’m concerned, not trying to compile blackmail material against you or anything.”

Lance studied him for another moment before—much to Keith’s relief—nodding. “Sure, you can take me home.” With the two of them working together, they managed to get Lance to his feet. “The only catch,” he muttered woozily. “Is that you stay with me.”

“I’m not gonna abandon you when you’re like this, man.” Keith propped Lance up against the wall. “Stay here. I’ll go grab our stuff and explain things to Coran.” He ran inside before Lance could respond.

Once he had collected their bags and jackets and had rushed out a hasty explanation to their professor (“Who knew frogs had such power?” was Coran’s only response), he sprinted back outside. He had no real reason to be so overly concerned about Lance; he knew that. Yet he couldn’t help the instinctive gut reaction that was telling him to _go, help him._

Lance looked up when Keith skidded to a stop in front of him. “Where’s the fire, Kogane?”

“Inside, apparently.” Keith panted. “Pidge is trying to convince Coran to let them set a frog on fire.”

Lance laughed, which really shouldn’t have warmed Keith’s heart the way it did. “Of course they are.” He pushed off of the wall and help out a hand in a silent request for his things. “Should we get going?”

Keith slung his own bag over his shoulder and eyed Lance’s outstretched hand critically. “You’re shaky. I’ll carry your bag. Let’s go.” He started walking without waiting for a response from Lance, who huffed and followed him anyway.

“Whatever you say.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is some weird-ass soft boy, and Lance didn't sign up for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I really put the "pro" in "procrastinator" while writing this one, and all I got out of it was this monstrosity. Enjoy!
> 
> My tumblr: [here](https://natural-by-design.tumblr.com)

Keith was pretty sure that Lance hadn’t been serious earlier when he’d “invited” Keith over, but he didn’t really care. His friend was sick, and he wasn’t leaving until Lance finally stopped shaking and his color was back to normal.

They were sitting on Lance’s bed—Lance was watching a show on his laptop and Keith was scrolling idly through his phone—when Lance turned toward him and, after a short pause, laughed.

Keith instantly scowled, looking up from his phone. “What is it?”

Lance shook his head, still laughing. “Dude, way to steal a pair.”

“I don’t—what?”

Lance gestured toward his own head. “You’re still wearing the goggles, Keith.”

No way. Did he really not take them off?

A cursory touch to the top of his head revealed that, yes, in fact, he had been absent-minded enough to not take off the goggles. Flushing deep enough to match his favorite jacket, Keith hastily pulled them from his head and scrambled for something to say. He settled on, “I was wondering why I could see so clearly.”

Lance stared at him, mouth hanging open. “Keith! That was almost clever!”

“And I immediately regret saying it.”

The other boy snorted. “Too bad. I heard it, and you got my hopes up about there being a spark of wit somewhere in there for half a second.”

Keith sputtered. “That’s not _my_ fault.”

Lance laughed and turned back to his show. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, mullet.”

Keith started to open his mouth to respond when he stopped short, his blood running cold. “ _You,_ ” he’d been about to say. “ _You’d help me sleep at night._ ”

Lance was back to looking at him, curiosity etched into his frown. “You okay? You’re really tense all of a sudden.”

Keith’s heart gave one painful thud, two. “No, uh, I’m fine. Worried about how you’re feeling, is all.”

Lance’s answering smile was tender in a way that made Keith’s heart and lungs attempt to army-crawl out of his chest. “I’m feeling better. But thank you anyway.” He shifted slightly. “You don’t have to stay, you know.”

Keith hummed and turned his phone back on to continue scrolling through his feed. “I’m staying until Hunk gets home.”

“He, Pidge, and Shay are going out.” Lance replied. “They won’t be home until much later.”

Keith looked back up. “Guess I’m staying for dinner, then.”

Lance let out a little laugh-sigh combo. “Guess so.”

Keith turned off his phone and placed it next to him facedown on Lance’s pillow, giving up on his aimless Internet searching. “Do you really not want me to?”

“I just don’t want to keep you from anything else you had planned tonight. Homework, brooding…” Lance raised his eyebrows suggestively. “A date?”

Keith’s face flushed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

He shrugged. “It might be good for you to go on one. It’d help you unwind, relax a little.”

“Or, more realistically, it’d stress me out even more. I’m not good with regular social interactions, Lance. What makes you think I’d be good at something with the added stress of having romantic tension thrown into the mix?”

“Because,” Lance said evenly.” I know you, and you always manage to surprise me.”

Not sure if he should understand that as a compliment, Keith ignored him. “Besides, you managed to forget the most important part of going on a date: I’d need someone to actually go on the date _with_.”

Lance scoffed. “Please. Like we haven’t both seen the looks that everybody—men, women, cats—throw your way. Let it be known that you’re interested in fishing, and an army will step up to take the bait.”

“I wouldn’t date a cat,” Keith said, mildly horrified.

Lance sighed. “I just meant that the whole damn world is attracted to you. Can’t imagine why, when you’re such a grump.”

“Has it occurred to you that I only act like this with you?” Keith inquired, trying not to show how amused he was.

Lance waved him off. “You do not. I mean, sure, you’re soft with Hunk, but how can anyone _not_ be soft with Hunk? And you’re a baby with Shiro—a cranky baby, but a baby nonetheless—but that makes sense because he’s a) the king of the world and b) your brother. You’re actually nice to Pidge and Matt, but you’ve known them for, like, ever, so that doesn’t actually count. Of course you’re nice to Allura; she manages to be an angel and a demon simultaneously, and it’s impossible to not love her.”

Keith arched an eyebrow as Lance gasped for breath. “And that leaves—” He poked Lance in the arm.

Lance’s brow furrowed. “Wait, no way. You really are an unresponsive dick just with me!”

Keith couldn’t help his laugh. “Nah, I’m an unresponsive dick in general. It just comes out a lot more around you.”

Lance pouted. “Why?”

“Because, jerk. How else am I supposed to deal with—” _my massive, unrequited feelings toward_ “—you?”

Lance threw his hands into the air in exasperation, jostling his laptop. “Like a regular human being? Does polite, friendly interaction ring a bell?”

Keith pretended to think. “Not really, no.”

Lance groaned. “I don’t even get an interesting expression out of you for that one? Not even a smile?” He leaned closer, their shoulders pressing together.

The room’s door flew open. Keith didn’t notice.

“I like your smile.” Lance said softly.

“Blergh,” Pidge said, pretending to stick a finger in their throat and drawing the attention of the other two in the process. “If you’re going to be disgustingly gay, go down to the commons where nobody gives a shit, instead of up here by yourselves where it’s weird.”

“It wasn’t weird,” Lance protested. “It wasn’t weird until _you_ made it weird.”

Keith snorted. “Yeah, first time that’s ever happened.”

Pidge scowled. “Are you two ganging up on me?”  
 “Not at all,” Lance said innocently. “Why are you back so early? Where are the other two?”

Pidge’s expression transformed into a smile that sent a nervous chill down Keith’s spine. “I may have abandoned them. For their own good,” they added hastily. “It’s about time that Hunk sucks it up and asks her out.”

“Shay might say no.” Keith said cautiously.

Pidge huffed out a laugh. “Like hell she will. In fact, I think she might ask _him_ out if he doesn’t do it soon.”

Lance sighed. “Those two, I swear…”

“Yes,” Pidge said, eyes flicking deliberately between Keith and Lance. “Those two, I swear.”

Keith blushed, then promptly forced himself to start coughing to pretend like he hadn’t. As he hacked away into his elbow, Lance patted his back and looked at Pidge, entirely unruffled. “Keith is insisting on staying until Hunk gets back, so if you want the room to yourself for any reason, better take advantage of it now.”

Pidge’s entire face lit up. “I’m going to ignore the way you made that sound vaguely dirty,” they said, darting for the door. “And actually listen to you for once. I have an experiment I’ve been meaning to run.”

"Don’t blow up my bed,” Keith gasped after them, coughing subsiding. They didn’t respond, the door closing behind them with a faint _click_.

Lance stared at the closed door. “They’re going to blow up your bed.”

Keith slumped forward with a groan. “I just got a new pillow, too.” When Lance slowly turned to look at him, expressionless, he defensively added, “It’s really nice! All soft and fluffy and stuff.”

Lance lasted another moment before dissolving into laughter. “I will be happy for the rest of my life knowing that _Keith Kogane_ unironically said the word ‘fluffy’.”

Keith lifted his head back up. “How do you say it ironically? It doesn’t work like that, stupid.”

“I don’t know!” The other boy gasped. The idiot was still laughing. “It just seemed like such a weird thing for you to say.”

Keith eyed him in mild concern. “Are you okay? Can you breathe?”

Lance’s laughter slowed and with one last, faint chuckle, he turned slightly watery blue eyes on Keith. He opened his mouth to speak, presumably to answer the question, but he was stopped by a loud buzz from his pocket.

Followed by another.

And another.

When Lance continued to ignore it, Keith frowned. “Aren’t you going to answer your phone? It seems important.”

Lance hit the space bar of his laptop to wake it. It had fallen asleep without either of them noticing, but Keith recognized the avoidance tactic for what it was. “Lance?”

Lance shrugged, eyes fixed on his screen as it blared back to life. “It’s probably just Hunk.”

Keith squared his shoulders. “Something’s up. I’ve never heard you refer to Hunk as ‘just Hunk’ before. Usually it’s more like ‘it’s probably gorgeous, wonderful, a-god-reincarnated Hunk'.”

“He is a reincarnated god,” Lance said grudgingly. “The sun to my moon. The shadow to my sidewalk. The lettuce to my sandwich. The chair—”

“I get it.” Keith interrupted. “So what’s going on?”          

Lance groaned and slammed the lid of his laptop down with a force that made Keith wince. “I’m nervous! Pidge said they left Hunk and Shay alone together, and what if he asked her out and she said no? What if he’s heartbroken?” He turned his head to stare at Keith with desperate eyes. “I’d _die_ , Keith.”

Keith sighed. “Fine, then. I’ll look.” Without giving Lance time to react, he slid his hand into the front pocket of Lance’s jeans where he had seen him put the phone and _oh_ this was a bad idea because now Keith was frozen and his hand was still in Lance’s pocket and he could feel the warmth of his leg and Lance was staring at him with flushed cheeks and blue blue blue eyes—

Keith’s face turned hot and he snatched his hand back, barely remembering to bring the phone along with it. He looked down at the screen hastily, ignoring the weirdly charged look Lance was giving him.

Front and center on the lock screen were three texts from Hunk.

**H: You won’t believe what just happened!!!**

**H: I’m sure Pidge told you how they’re a little shit.**

**H: But I askED HER OUT AND SHE SAID YES AND NOW WE’RE GOING—** The rest of the message was unavailable unless someone logged into Lance’s phone.

Keith smirked and handed it back to Lance. “All clear.”

Lance’s face lit up. “She said yes?” He unlocked his phone and, after reading the messages with a squeal that hurt Keith’s ears, started typing a response with thumbs that almost seemed blurry from moving so fast.

Keith watched him, fondness seeping through his veins in a thick flood. It wasn’t until Lance glanced up at him, however, that he realized what he was doing and awkwardly looked away with a clearing of his throat. “Okay, so it sounds like Hunk is on his way back.”

Lance frowned, eyes darting back down to his phone. “Actually, I think he and Shay are—”

“ _So_ ,” Keith continued loudly, talking over him. “I’m gonna go ahead and…go.” He stood from the bed and backed toward the door. “Um, feel better.”

Lance looked thoroughly confused, which was pretty much how Keith felt. “What happened to staying and taking care of me?”

“Change of plans,” Keith offered over his shoulder, making his escape. Lance’s wordless yell of bewilderment followed him out the door.

He practically sprinted back to his own room. Pidge was nowhere to be found, luckily (although perhaps not quite as much for any innocent bystanders they were harassing), which gave Keith complete freedom to flop face-first on to his bed and groan into his soft, new pillow.

Those damned eyes.

Maybe Keith could convince Lance to get colored contacts.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is confused and Keith just wants to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, kiddos! Here's another, hot off the press. This chapter is more of a transitional chapter than anything, and I'm thinking we'll be getting into the real plot (aka idiot boys pining with purpose) in the next chapter or so, so try not to get too fed up with me. Hopefully, it'll all be worth it. Enjoy!
> 
> My tumblr, [ here](https://natural-by-design.tumblr.com)

Lance had thought that Keith had been an unresponsive dick before.

That had been nothing compared to this.

For the next four days after the frog debacle (as Lance had taken to calling it), Keith was acting obviously odd around Lance. They’d had biology twice more during those days and Keith had behaved perfectly politely, albeit a bit coldly. It was strange, but Lance was willing to chalk it up to Keith embracing his inner drama queen.

It wasn’t until the next two days that Lance knew something was up. The four of them—Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Keith, and occasionally other mutual friends—had a long-standing collective habit of popping in on each other (whether invited to or not) to do homework together, complain about whatever, or just to hang out. Lance had visited Pidge and Keith twice, and yet as soon as he walked into their room Keith made excuses to be somewhere else or had very determinedly avoided eye contact. Both times.

By the time the fifth day was over, Lance had gone from feeling upset to just being angry (no one had ever said that he was known for his patience).

The sixth day, Saturday morning, Lance let Hunk’s 7:30-in-the-morning-let’s-go-for-a-jog! alarm wake him up. Hunk eyed him in concern as Lance groaned, rolled, and almost fell out of his bed. “You’re up worryingly early.” He was tying on his yellow sneakers, a gift Shay (his running partner) had gotten for him. Lance couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Hunk run without them.

Lance yawned and did a big, full-body stretch. “I have to catch Keith unawares and get him to talk to me.”

Hunk straightened, doing a couple of hops and rolling his shoulders back. “You could also wait for him to come to you.”

Lance sat up in his bed, trying to shake the last dregs of sleep from his mind. “Like that’s going to happen. No, we both know that the only way Keith will tell me what’s going on is if I surprise it out of him.”

“You do remember the last time you tried to surprise him, right?” Hunk asked, his voice slightly muffled as he leaned down to touch his toes. “He literally pulled a knife on you.”

“In self-defense! Shiro said he never really would have hurt me.”

“Shiro was trying to get you to stop screaming.” Hunk paused to ruffle Lance’s hair affectionately on his way to the door. Lance pouted, but let him do it with no complaints. “Well, look. You and Keith are friends, and no matter how you go about it I’m sure you two will work things out.”

Lance sighed. “I hope so. Say hi to Shay for me.”

Hunk waved in acknowledgement before slipping out the door.

Lance groaned and flopped backward onto his pillows. God, how did people _function_ this early?

 

He did end up going to see Keith, if only because he had told Hunk he would. He hovered outside their door before he took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob to twist it open. Despite what he’d said to Hunk, Lance did actually kind of fear for his life.

When he walked in, he found matching lumps under blankets on both Keith’s and Pidge’s bed. Pidge was entirely invisible, and all Lance could see of Keith was a few tufts of black hair.

Swallowing back a smile, Lance made his way over to the latter’s bed. Perching on the edge, he leaned close to the end of the blanket and whispered, “Keith.”

No response.

Lance tried again. “Keeeith. Wake up.”

Keith murmured and wiggled until he was facing Lance’s general direction, his head and bare shoulders popping out of the little blanket cave he’d created. His eyes remained closed, and Lance had to take a moment to just stare at him. Keith was sharply beautiful when he was awake: all angled cheekbones, dark hair, and intense steel eyes. But there was something about his sleeping face that Lance (who was aware he had started to verge into creeper territory) couldn’t tear his eyes away from. He looked peaceful, and soft, and somehow a hundred other things. Lance had only ever seen Keith this way when the older boy was truly incandescently happy…or completely and utterly drunk.

Forcing himself to snap out of it, Lance reached forward to run his fingers lightly over Keith’s cheek. “Keith, wake up so I can surprise you and talk to you and you can not kill me.”

To his surprise, Keith’s eyes actually opened this time. Granted, it was only a small amount and he still looked mostly asleep. “Mm.” He blinked a few times, then hummed and closed his eyes entirely.

Lance sighed, then laughed. “Come on, man. You seem like you’re sleeping well, so sorry about this, but I really need to talk—” He cut off abruptly as Keith unearthed a warm hand and wrapped it around Lance’s gesticulating fingers, his eyes still closed.

“Lance,” he muttered, his voice sleepy and soft and doing funny things to Lance’s insides. “Go back to sleep.”

Lance laughed nervously. “I’m in _your_ room, mullet.”

Keith frowned, faintly. “I know, because you won’t let me sleep.”

Lance wiggled his hand in the air, taking advantage of the grip that Keith still had on his fingers to move the other boy’s hand around as well. “Please, Keith.”

Keith rolled fully onto his back, slowly opening his eyes. He focused on Lance and frowned slightly. His hair was an absolute mess and Lance loved it. “Make me.”

Lance’s skin prickled. “That kind of defeats the purpose of us having a peaceful conversation, no?”

Keith propped himself up on his elbows, the blanket slipping down to reveal his muscular, _very shirtless_ chest. “I said _make me_.”

Lance made a small noise in the back of his throat that he hadn’t even been aware he could make. “So are my options either this or a knife to the face? Just for future reference,” he added, then immediately wished he could take it back.

“Future reference?” Keith repeated. “Are you planning on making a habit out of sneaking into my room to creepily wake me up?”

“I didn’t _sneak_.” Lance replied indignantly. “You and Pidge are always forgetting to lock the door, so I just—”

Keith held up a hand to silence him, then fell backward to continue laying on his back. “I don’t even want to know why you know that.” He sighed. “Can you please just tell me what you want so you can leave and I can go back to sleep?”

Lance glanced over at Pidge, who was still nothing but an immobile bump under their covers. “It’s about me. And you, I guess.”

Keith’s eyes sharpened, and he lifted himself back up to position his face closer to Lance’s. “What’s wrong? Are you in trouble?”

Lance scowled. “No, you are.”

“Wh-what?”

“What’s been going on with you for the past few days? You were downright cold in the lab—nice partner behavior, by the by—and you’ve been flat-out ignoring me outside of it. And don’t tell me you’ve just been in a weeklong pissy mood or something, because you’ve only been acting like this with me.”

Keith groaned and finally sat up all the way, dragging a hand over his face. “Did you seriously ambush me at whenever-the-hell-o’clock in the morning to talk to me about this?”

“Yes.” Lance glowered. “It’s not like you were going to talk to me about it any other time.”

“It’s not like I’m going to talk to you about it now.” Keith shot back, then winced as his words registered with both him and Lance.

“Ha!” Lance shouted victoriously, then glanced at Pidge and lowered his volume. “So there _is_ something going on.”

Keith avoided his eyes. “Not really.”

Lance snorted. “Bullshit. Will you at least tell me if there’s something I can do to make it up to you?”

Keith’s eyes shot to him. “Wait, what?”

Lance arched an eyebrow. “What could have been unclear about that?”        

Keith shook his head without taking his eyes away from Lance’s. “Why do you think you have to make something up to me?”

Lance tossed his hands into the air in exasperation. “Let’s go over the sequence of events, shall me? We’re in the lab, I look at the frog; it overwhelms my poor, unprepared brain. You take me back to my room, and proceed to take care of me like the good, kind friend you are. Pidge enters. Pidge leaves. You leave. You act weird in bio for the next two days. You make excuses to get away from me during the three after that.” He leaned forward, into Keith’s personal space. “Sounds to me like I messed up somewhere in there, and I want to know how.”

To his surprise, Keith’s entire face crinkled into one of his genuine, beautiful smiles. And wow, Lance was not prepared to receive the full impact of it from inches away and no, he really didn’t need to have a heart attack this early in the morning. “Is this your very aggressive way of giving me an apology?” Keith asked.

Lance wanted to scream. “I’m more than happy to apologize, but what am I apologizing _for_?”

Keith swallowed, looking away. “Nothing. You don’t have to apologize for anything, I was just teasing you.”

Lance eased back an inch to prevent any hormone-related impulsive moves that his body might decide to present him with. “Then what’s been going on?”

Keith continued avoiding his eyes. “Nothing’s been going on.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “You want to look at me and try that again?”

Keith exhaled in a violent explosion. “Jesus, Lance. Everything is fine, okay? Now, could you please leave so I can go back to sleep? I’ll see you later for that lunch Shiro and Matt are making us go to.”

Lance grabbed Keith’s chin and pulled, forcing the dark-haired boy to meet his eyes. “Fine. If you say everything is okay, than it’s okay. Just…don’t lie to me if you need help.”

Keith’s mouth relaxed into a half-smile. “I won’t. I promise.”

 “Good.” Lance let him go and stood, making Keith bounce around a little from the sudden loss of weight on the mattress. “Get some rest, then. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Yeah,” Keith muttered, laying back down and closing his eyes. “See you then.”

“Finally,” Pidge muttered. “Goddamn idiots.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance uses an abundance of exclamation points, and a lot of people roll their eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, m'dudes! Sorry this chapter is actually insanely late. The writing part of my brain decided to kaput right around the time school decided to kick me in the ass, so this is being published a lot later than I'd have liked it to be. We're here now, though, so it's all good. I decided that I needed to get on top of my swearing game, btw, which means there are about two f-bombs in this chapter. Sorry in advance if that's not something you're comfortable with, but I did mark it teen and up...I also just wanted to mention that I don't ever really specify what sort of restaurant they're in, but just imagine it's some ambiguous place that specializes in sandwiches.  
> (Also, yes, I totally think Keith is a boxer briefs type of guy. It was awkward to fit that in, though, so just keep that in your mind's eye along with the sandwich shop as you read)
> 
> Enjoy!

Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith had agreed to meet outside their dorm, and Lance was beyond pleased to discover that, for once in his life, he was earlier than Keith.

After five or so minutes of waiting, it became less thrilling.

“Where  _ is  _ he?” Pidge growled, checking their watch again for the third time in as many minutes. “We gotta goooo.”

Hunk, ever the peacemaker, tried out a soft smile. “He’ll be here soon. Are you sure he was awake when you left?”

Pidge sighed. “Yes! He was doing push-ups or some equally stupid athletic thing in the middle of the floor."

Lance rolled his eyes. “Of course he was.  Why isn’t he here yet, though? Push-ups shouldn’t take this long unless he’s doing a thousand of them."

Hunk laughed. “I mean, we all know how intense he can be. I wouldn’t put doing a thousand of them past him.”

Pidge mumbled something under their breath, then reached over and gave Lance a little shove. “Go check on him.”

Lance sputtered. “Why should I have to?”

“Because you’re the most obnoxious, which means that you’re the most likely to annoy him into getting a move on.”

Lance stared at them speechlessly, then turned pleading eyes on his best friend. “Hunk?”

Hunk’s smirk was his only response.

“ _ Fine _ .” Lance snapped. “I’ll go annoy Keith into getting his skinny little ass down here.”

He could hear the other two breaking into laughter behind him as he spun on his heel and stalked back inside.

  


Keith was showering.

He  _ knew _ that it had been a mistake to exercise so much not long before he was supposed to meet with the others, but his muscles had been tense and uncomfortable, and he hadn’t expected to lose track of time.

Of course, he didn’t glance at a clock or his damn phone or anything when he had gone flying out of his room and headed for the showers, so he still didn’t know what time it actually was. He just had the deeply uncomfortable feeling that he was late, and that they were all going to take turns killing him.

Keith turned the water off with a wrench that made his wrist hurt from the force of it and reached for the towel hanging on the back of the stall door. He had barely wrapped it around his hips when he heard the door to the showers open and a familiar voice echoing throughout the room.

“Keith?” Lance asked. “Are you in here?”

Keith froze, then swallowed and pushed open the door of his stall. He could see his clothes, folded and in a pile on the counter behind Lance, but he had no way of getting there unnoticed. “H-hey, Lance."

Lance turned to look at him. “Hey, there you are.” His eyes caught on Keith’s bare chest, and Keith watched some indecipherable emotion pass over his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Keith cut him off. “It’s fine, I just got out of the shower.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “How late am I?”

That seemed to snap Lance out of whatever weird daze he’d fallen into. “Late enough that we really need to skedaddle.” He fished his phone out of his pocket and held it up for Keith to see the time.

Keith’s eyes widened. “Shit. Toss me my clothes and shut your eyes.”

Lance looked vaguely amused. “Can’t you just walk the ten steps that it’ll take to get here?” Despite his words, he pocketed his phone and turned to grab what looked like Keith’s shirt and underwear. He tossed them, and Keith had to let go of his towel to reach out and grab them. It had been a split-second reaction, and one he regretted as the clothes landed in his hands, the towel fell to a puddle around his feet, and Lance squeaked and squeezed his eyes shut. His cheeks were a pink that Keith would have normally enjoyed, but he was too busy being embarrassed right along with him. He hastily pulled his underwear on and muttered something about being decent before shoving his head and arms through the holes in his shirt.

“Sorry,” Lance muttered, eyes still closed and cheeks still stained with a blush. Keith’s heart ka- _ thump _ ed at the sight of him, and he averted his eyes with a scowl. “I didn’t mean to, you know…”

Keith cleared his throat. “Will you just give me my pants and my shoes so we can go, please?”

Lance opened his eyes, albeit a bit hesitantly, and gave Keith a look of disgust. “No socks?”

It was such a Lance-like question that Keith let himself relax and push the towel-slipping incident to the back of his mind. “They’re inside the shoes, idiot.”

Lance flung the pants in his direction. “You better stop calling me that before I throw a shoe at your face.”

Keith laughed, helplessly, picking up the pants and sliding his legs into them. “I’m serious. Give ‘em here.”

“How about not?” Lance’s fingers came up to tap against his chin. “What will you give me for them?”

Keith rolled his eyes and dragged his towel over his head, ruffling it in hopes of not being a dripping mess for much longer. “How about I protect you from Shiro when he scolds us for being as late as we are?”

Lance paled enough that Keith had to fight to hide his smirk. “Deal. Let’s go, slowpoke. And button your pants.” Then he was gone, the door swinging closed behind him and Keith’s shoes still on the counter.

Keith sighed. “Fine, I’ll get them myself.” As he buttoned his pants and walked over to his shoes, he toyed briefly with waiting even longer just to see the annoyed (and more adorable than it should be) look on Lance’s face, but he quickly decided against it. Shiro’s wrath just wouldn’t be worth it.

When he finally went outside, he was greeted with an arched eyebrow from Lance, a scowl from Pidge, and a huff of relief from Hunk. Keith flushed. “I’m sorry, I lost track of time.”

Somewhat to his surprise, Lance was the one who came to his defense—in a sort of roundabout way. “At least you’re here now, right? Let’s get a move on, people.” He started marching down the sidewalk, arms loose and swinging.

“Lance,” Keith called, grinning. “You’re going the wrong way.”

Lance froze mid-step, then did a slow pivot to face the other three. “Right,” he said. “I was just warming up my legs.”

Hunk laughed. “Whatever you say, man.”

  


Shiro and Matt had chosen a restaurant near the outskirts of the campus, which meant that the other four were practically sprinting in the door by the time they got there. Keith was at the front of their small pack, which lead to him being the first to stumble to a halt in front of the reception stand. The others skidded to a stop behind him, and Lance placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder for balance as he leaned forward, trying to catch his breath.

“Hi,” Hunk panted to the alarmed looking receptionist. “Our party should be here already, under the name Takashi Shirogane?”

The receptionist nodded, smiling. He was a college-aged, preppy-looking type…and cute enough to make Keith’s cheeks heat and Lance whistle softly in Keith’s ear. “Sure thing. They’re back near the windows, on the right. Would you like me to show you the way?”

“Yes,” Lance piped up hopefully. “I would like that very much.”

Keith smacked Lance on the side of his head, then turned back to the receptionist (who was looking a little rosy-cheeked himself). “I’m sure we can find them. Thank you, though.”

He got a smile in return. “Of course.”

“I’m impressed,” Pidge hissed to him as the four of them walked further into the restaurant. “I thought for sure you wanted to ogle his ass as much as Lance did.”

“One of us has to be a mature adult.” Keith replied.

Lance snorted.

Shiro spotted them before they saw him, which surprised no one. It also surprised no one when he waved them over to the table, stared each of them down, and said “Sit.”

They sat.

Keith ended up between Lance and Shiro, and across from their other mutual friend, Allura. She smiled when they made eye contact, and he couldn’t help his responding grin. The two of them had met when they were all much younger, and had been pretty solid friends ever since. She and her uncle (who was also Keith’s current bio professor, which was kind of weird) had moved next door to Shiro and Keith, which meant that the three of them and the Holt siblings had lived on the same block for years. The lot of them had become good friends in various ways, and Keith was always glad to see Allura.

“Hi, Keith.” She said now. Her familiar, accented voice made Keith smile again.

“Hey, ‘Lura.”

Shiro tapped the index finger of his prosthetic arm against the table, effectively drawing everyone’s attention. “Hi,” he said simply. “Everyone had a good day so far?” He turned his head and locked eyes with Keith. “Lots of rest and relaxation?”

Keith sighed. “It’s my fault we’re late, Shiro. I lost track of time.”

His brother held the act for another long moment before dropping it with a laugh. “To be completely honest, I figured it was something like that.”

From Shiro’s other side, Pidge’s brother snorted. “Yeah, but we thought it’d be because of Lance.”

“Hey!” Lance cried. “Sometimes it’s  _ not _ my fault.”

Matt chuckled. “Oh, really. Like when?"

Lance huffed. “Like when it’s Keith’s fault.”

Matt opened his mouth, then closed it. “I…guess I can’t argue with that.”

Keith raised his hands in protest. “I can! I can very much argue with that!”

Allura laughed. “How?”

“I just could,” he grumbled. “Have you all ordered yet?”

Shiro chuckled. “You’re not that late, don’t worry. We’ve just ordered drinks. We got water for you, Keith, an iced tea for Hunk, orange juice for Pidge, and a coffee with extra creamer for Lance.”

Pidge huffed. “You got me orange juice with lunch?”

Matt smiled. “Yep.”

They deflated. “That’s just what I wanted. Thank you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Thank Allura. I wanted to get you a glass of milk—so you grow up big and strong, you know?—but I got vetoed.”

“Fuck you,” Pidge replied amiably. “Milk is good.”

Hunk cleared his throat. “I never thought I’d say this, but I think Pidge actually has healthier eating habits than Matt.”

Matt and Pidge scoffed in unison. “Impossible.”

“Healthier than you, definitely.” Lance muttered to Keith.

Keith looked back at him, affronted. “In what possible way?”

Lance leaned back in his seat. “Are you kidding? I’ve seen you inhale bags of dry cereal at three in the morning and call it breakfast."

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I eat like that all the time. Besides, I have a built in excuse: I’m a college student.”

On his other side, Shiro deliberately cleared his throat. “Yes, and? You ate like that at home, too.”

It was hard to miss the delight on Lance’s face. He leaned over Keith to see Shiro better, his soft brown hair tickling Keith’s nose. “Oh, my god, Shiro. I think I love you. Tell me more about angsty teenage Keith and his bad dietary exploits.”

“Hi,” Keith said to the side of Lance’s head. “I’m right here. I also hope you’re aware that you’re one slip of the hand away from face-planting in my crotch?”

Lance sputtered and hastily retreated, Shiro clearly forgotten. “Keith! We’re in public!”

Keith bit his bottom lip, trying to contain his smile. “Are you saying you’d be okay with it in private?”

Lance’s cheeks turned a deep, dusky red. “No, Keith, that’s  _ not _ what I’m saying!”

Keith couldn’t help it; he burst into laughter. “If you could see your face—”

Lance smacked him across the bicep. “There are children present, Kogane. Control yourself.”

Pidge threw a napkin at him.

Lance looked back at them, eyes wide. “I meant in the general vicinity, but you’re not wrong.”

“At least I don’t have the maturity of a six year old,” they shot back.

Keith smiled. “That’s a good point.”

Lance swiveled his head to gape at him. “Whose side are you on here?”

From across the table, Allura laughed. “Clearly not yours.”

“Figures.” Lance pouted. “No one’s ever on my side.”

“Come find me when you have an opinion I actually agree with,” Keith replied. Lance laughed.

A jab in the ribs from Shiro made Keith turn toward the head of the table, where a server stood expectantly. Matt was already ordering, listing off something that essentially sounded like a really complicated grilled cheese sandwich.

“Crap,” Lance muttered. “I haven’t even glanced at the menu.”

An automatic “stupid” was immediately on the tip of Keith’s tongue, but he stopped himself from saying it. “Me neither,” he admitted instead.

“Ugh.” Lance was skimming through the menu like his life depended on it. “Keith, man, why did you have to go and distract me?”

Keith raised his hands defensively. “In no way was that my fault.”

“Hey, you two.” Pidge said, knocking on the table to get their attention. “Everyone else has ordered. What do you want?”

Keith looked helplessly at Lance.

The other boy seemed to have been prepared for something like this, because he responded much more smoothly than Keith was expecting. “I’ll have the BLT with a side of fries, and he’ll get the ‘Mega Salad’.” With a satisfied expression, he folded up the menu and placed it on the table.

“You got me a salad,” Keith said flatly once the server had written down the orders, collected the menus, and left.

Lance looked back at him, a familiar smirk on his face. “Were you not here for the conversation we just had about how badly you eat? I’m trying to help you out here, buddy.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I exercise a lot. It’s fine.”

“That’s not how it works!” Lance cried. “Aren’t you supposed to be smart?”

Matt snorted. “According to who?”

“Lance, apparently.” Shiro replied. His voice was mild, but there was a teasing spark in his eyes that Keith had learned to dread.

Lance made an indignant sound. “That is not what I said. Why is everyone picking on me when Keith is clearly the one in the wrong?”

Allura rolled her eyes. “Lance, not everyone is as much of a health nut as you are.”

“Right,” Lance agreed. “But that’s why you  _ have _ me. So I can tell you all how bad you are at taking care of yourselves. Except Shiro, ‘cause you’re like a powerhouse of muscle and health. And Hunk, of course, ‘cause you can do no wrong.”

“Lance,” Keith said soberly.

Lance immediately spun to face him, something that might have been concern in his eyes. Keith refused to examine it too closely. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” Keith said, leaning close enough to the other boy that he could see the faint freckles splattered across his nose. “Shut up,”

Lance blinked back at him. “Wh-what?”

Their noses were almost brushing. “I said, shut up. No one cares.”

“I care,” Hunk piped up from the other end of the table.

Lance waggled his eyebrows, not breaking eye contact. “Hunk cares.”

“Hunk is too nice for his own good.” Keith replied. “You got me a fucking salad, Lance.”

Lance’s lips quirked upward, slightly enough that Keith only noticed because he was literally right in front of him. “You’re still on this?”

“Yes, Lance, I’m still on this.” Keith gritted out.

Lance sighed. “If it’s that big of a deal, I’ll share my sandwich with you.”

Keith sat back, satisfied. “Thank you.”

Allura laughed. “I’m not sure what I just watched.”

Keith smirked. “You just watched Lance make a smart choice.”

The table dissolved into friendly chatter mixed with banter, as was the norm for their group. Lance, per usual, was at the center of things, laughing and talking and making bad jokes. Keith leaned back in his seat and watched him, warmth spreading through his chest.

Shiro leaned closer to Keith and cleared his throat. “How you doing there, creeper?”

Keith scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Shiro laughed. “It means that you’re staring at Lance like he’s an oasis and you’ve been stuck in the desert for a year.”

Keith’s scowl deepened. “Oh, right, because you were so much better before you and Matt got together.”

A look of pure, unbridled delight illuminated Shiro’s face. “Yeah, but I had a huge crush on him. Does that mean that you--”

“No,” Keith blurted, and snuck a look over at Lance to make sure that he wasn’t paying attention to them. He wasn’t: he, Hunk, and Pidge were busy arguing about something. Keith turned back to Shiro and glowered. “No, it doesn’t mean I have a crush on him.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “You said it, not me.”

Keith groaned and buried his face in his hands. His cheeks and ears felt like they were on fire. “I did  _ not _ say it.”

Shiro snickered. “You totally did.”

Keith flipped him off.

When their food arrived, Lance made a pleased chirping sound that had Keith smiling despite himself. “It’s just a sandwich, man.”

“Yeah, but it’s  _ my _ sandwich.” Lance responded. At Keith’s pointed glance, he sighed. “Fine, it’s  _ our _ sandwich.”

“You know what they say,” Hunk mumbled around a mouthful. “First it’s a sandwich, next thing you know you’ve got a baby.”

Keith opened and closed his mouth a few times before he managed, “When has anyone ever said that?”

“Just now,” Lance was the one who replied. “You’re really having a problem listening today.”

“Anyone other than Hunk, brainiac.” Keith reached over and took a fry from Lance’s plate, popping it into his mouth. “Would you like to cut the sandwich in half, or should I?”

“Hey now,” Lance cried. “Who said you were getting half of it?”

Keith sighed. “A third, then?”

Lance winked at him. “That I can do.”

They sliced up Lance’s sandwich, and Keith bit into his piece with relish. He was finishing it just as the server arrived with his “Mega Salad”, and he groaned. “I should have saved that, so I could eat it after I choke down this monstrosity.” In reality, the salad didn’t actually look that bad. Keith had been complaining about it from the beginning, however, and he was sticking to his guns.

Lance hooted. “Sucks for you.”

Keith stabbed a piece of lettuce viciously. “I hope you’re aware that this being your fault is a fact that has not changed.”

Lance waved him off, sinking his teeth into his sandwich. “Mm.”

Keith turned his attention back to the meal in front of him, spearing a tomato.

Lance took another bite and groaned again, louder.

Keith closed his eyes, briefly. “Please stop having sex with your food when you’re right next to me.”

Lance took that as an invitation to place his chin on Keith’s shoulder and moan directly into Keith’s ear. “But  _ Keith _ , it’s so  _ good _ .”

Keith wanted to die.

Shiro saved him, to Keith’s eternal relief. His brother cleared his throat warningly and said, “Let’s keep it PG, guys. Besides, Allura has something she wants to tell you.”

To Keith’s guiltily mixed relief and despair, Lance withdrew. “What’s up?” He didn’t even glance in Keith’s direction, which was probably a good thing considering how disconcerted Keith was sure he looked.

Allura blotted her lips with her napkin before laying it down on the table and looking around at all of them, eyes bright. “Right. Thanks for reminding me, Shiro. You all know how my uncle, Coran, has that villa on the beach? Well, I figured since we have spring break starting in just a few days, we could all go down and spend it there--unless people have other plans, of course. I talked to Coran, and he’s more than happy to loan the property to us.”

Matt winced. “I can’t go, sorry. There’s a conference I have to be at.”

Shiro squeezed his hand. “We’ll stay in touch. I, for one, think it’s a fine idea.”

“Yes,” Lance cheered, wrapping his hand around Keith’s and slamming them both down on the table. “Count us in!”

Keith gaped at him. “Stop making decisions for me.”

Lance shrugged. “It’s not like you were going to answer differently.”

Keith hated that he was right.

“It sounds fun,” Hunk agreed. “How about you, Pidge? You up for this?”

“Are you kidding?” Pidge replied, “Coran has killer wifi there. It’s  _ so _ on.”

“Great,” Keith said, staring at where his hand was still trapped under Lance’s. “We’re going to the beach.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a random spring break for plot purposes, why don't you? Sorry I'm forcing Keith to go through a gay panic...hopefully he'll figure it out, amiright? I also just wanted to throw out a little disclaimer that, while I'm never okay with people hating on others just because of who they ship and it's all cool over here no matter which otp gets your heart racing, I'm usually more of a Shallura shipper. I figured I'd try some Shatt, but I'm sorry if it seems a bit awkward and all. I'm always open to tips and suggestions for making my writing better, so feel free to hit me up with those!  
> Also, before I come off as a socially awkward jerk, thank you so much for the kudos and the comments! I promise I read them, I just have no idea how to respond and sound natural, so I take the mature way out and don't say anything (I have problems lol). Anyway, thank you for all the love! Thanks, as always, for reading.
> 
> My tumblr, here


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Allura forget that their friends are actual six year olds, and Keith is a little shit (until he's not).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeey friends, time for another one. Sorry in advance about this one being kind of short--I'm hoping the next one will be more substantial, so just bear with me.
> 
> Enjoy!

“You’re quiet. That’s never a good sign.”

“Oh, screw off. I’m thinking.”

“Like I said, never a good sign.” Keith looked over at Lance. “Try not to hurt yourself.”

Lance scowled back at him. “Are you actually aiming for a ‘greatest dick’ award?”

Keith laughed. “I mean, it’s a well acknowledged truth that my dick is, in fact, the greatest.”

Lance very steadily refused to blush. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Do you think Allura would be mad if I murdered you on one of these couches?”

“Yes,” the woman in question called from the kitchen, which was just out of sight from the couch Lance and Keith were sitting on. “Yes, I think she would.”

Shiro laughed as he walked back into the living room. He passed the two iced glasses of lemonade in his hands to the other two before taking a seat on the second of the three couches in the room. “We’re here to take a vacation, idiots, not murder each other.”

The six of them had arrived at Coran’s bomb-ass beach house the night before, and there had been a lot of exclamations about how nice it was, and how lucky they were to be there.

Lance was absolutely in love with the place.

It could have been  _ even more awesome _ , too, but Keith refused to leave him alone. It was kind of oddly aggressive for the other boy, who was usually pretty chill when Lance wasn’t instigating anything. With this vacation, though, Lance had been planning on relaxing, enjoying himself, and soaking up as much sun and water as he could. Keith apparently had other plans, and it was driving Lance insane.

Lance took a small sip of his lemonade, trying to ignore the tense figure beside him. As soon as the liquid hit his tongue, however, he regretted it. He couldn’t help the way that his whole face scrunched up at the sourness, or the small, choked sound he made.

Keith turned his head to glance at him before his eyes drifted down to the glass in his own hand. “Allura,” he called, his eyes meeting Lance’s in wry amusement. “Did you make this yourself?”

“Mhm!” Came the cheerful reply.

Keith smiled softly, his eyes still locked with Lance’s. “Did you, perhaps, forget to put sugar in it?”

Lance heard Shiro stifle a laugh.

There was a moment of silence before Allura stepped into the doorway of the kitchen, her expression apologetic. “That is...entirely possible.” She walked across the room to stand in front of Keith and leaned forward to pull the glass from his hand. She took a sip and immediately shook her head, eyes squeezing shut.

“I haven’t even tasted it,” Keith muttered to Lance. “Is it that bad?”

“It’s like she found the sourest lemons possible,” Lance whispered back as Allura walked over to Shiro and held the drink out, inviting him to taste it. “And then, on top of the lack of added sugar, she sucked out any of the remaining natural sugar.”

Keith laughed. “Sounds delightful.”

“You should have some,” Lance replied then paused, his gaze going back to where Shiro was gently shaking his head and Allura was muttering something under her breath. He  _ liked _ this Keith; this Keith made jokes and treated Lance like a friend and had little, soft smiles that made Lance’s heart flutter. The only problem was that he wasn’t sure what had put Keith in his weird funk earlier, and he was afraid of setting him off again.

Keith nudged his shoulder. “You okay? You stopped talking.”

Lance blinked. Allura had left the room, presumably to deal with the lemonade, Shiro was scrolling through his phone, and Keith was staring at him in concern. “Ah, yeah. Sorry. What was I saying?”

Keith raised an eyebrow, leaning back into the cushions. “You were going to tell me why I should have some lemonade.”

Lance looked down at the glass he still held in his hand. “Right, because this tastes completely normal and is very refreshing.”

Keith scoffed. “You don’t say.”

Lance smiled encouragingly. “Seriously! I just want the true excellence of it to be appreciated by everybody. And, whether you like it or not, you’re part of everybody.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but the small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth told Lance that he wasn’t really annoyed. “Okay, whatever. Give it here.”

Lance willingly handed him the glass. He expected Keith to take one sip, maybe two, before conceding defeat and setting the drink down, but--nope.

Keith lifted the glass to his lips and swallowed all of the liquid inside in three gulps. He did plunk the glass down on the coffee table triumphantly, but he turned and faced Lance again without a trace of discomfort in his expression.

Lance gaped at him. “How?”

Keith’s eyebrow twitched, although it was the only visible sign of being uncomfortable that he let slip. “Sheer willpower, mostly.”

Lance refused to laugh. “I don’t know if I should be impressed or not.”

Keith smiled. It was small, but genuine. “Yes, you should.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Please be impressed so my pain wasn’t for nothing.”

Lance gave his shoulder a little shove and  _ fine _ , maybe it was a bit more flirtatious than it needed to be. “You’re such a drama queen.”

“ _ I’m _ the drama queen?” Keith repeated with a shocked expression, drawing back.

“Yes,” Lance insisted. “You are. I never thought you would be when I first met you, prickly hedgehog that you were, but you managed to surprise me.”

“Oh, good.” Keith replied dryly. “My life goal, completed.”

Lance beamed. “I’m so glad to know that your top priority involved me.”

Keith let another small smile slip, and Lance could almost believe that it was laced with affection. “Yeah, okay. You caught me.”

Shiro cleared his throat, looking over at them. “Not to intrude, but I’m totally intruding. Keith, did I actually just hear you concede defeat?”

Keith scowled at his brother, any trace of his smile--and the small promise of affection within--vanishing. “I did not  _ admit defeat _ . I just...don’t want to argue with him about something so blatantly ridiculous.”

Lance snorted. “‘Ridiculous’ my ass.”

Shiro was smiling now, smugly. “Do you need me to leave you two alone?”

“Fuck off,” Keith growled, standing from the couch in one smooth movement. “I don’t have to deal with this. I’m leaving.” He stalked off to another part of the massive house, and Lance couldn’t stop himself from admiring the view from behind as he left.

“He’s secretly a romantic,” Shiro told Lance, loud enough that Keith could probably still hear it. “He just has this need to come off as grumpy and mean.”

Lance sighed. He knew Shiro was joking, and yet…”Only with me, it seems like.”

Shiro regarded him, a thoughtful expression taking over his features. “Do you really think so?”

Lance gave him the best flat look he could muster. “Of course I do. Sorry, do you have eyes?”

Shiro rolled said eyes.

They lapsed into silence and Lance, expecting the conversation to be over, got to his feet and started for the kitchen. He was halfway there when Shiro spoke up again. “Lance,” he said softly, waiting until Lance had stopped moving to continue. “He’ll open up to you when he’s ready.”

“Yeah,” Lance muttered, not looking at the older man. “That’s a nice thought, Shiro. Thanks.” He turned his head to smile at Shiro briefly before hastily escaping into the kitchen. As he greeted Allura and offered to help prepare lunch, he couldn’t shake the last glimpse of Keith that he had gotten when the other boy was leaving the room.

He could have sworn that he’d been blushing.

  


The rest of the day seemed to meld into an easy, continuous stream that stole time away before any of them realized that it was there. Not that Lance was complaining; it was heaven, being with people he cared about, near the water, with miraculously good weather for spring. He had spent at least a half hour being generally ridiculous with Pidge, and Shiro had been too relaxed to do anything more than give them both a half-assed stern look.

Before he was really aware of it, dinner being served and Hunk was calling for them. Lance, who had been playing games on his phone and laying on the floor of the living room, groaned. “Huunnnnk,” he whined, stretching out his best friend’s name. “Why do you insist on being cruel enough to make me get up?”

“Aw, man.” Hunk called back in a sing-song. “I made some of your favorites, too.”

Lance groaned.

Pidge appeared above him, their hands on their hips. “Get up, you lazy lump.”

He considered it. “I mean, I could. Alternatively, though, I could remain right where I am. You know?”

Surprisingly, Pidge didn’t seem impressed. “Unless you get up in the next two minutes," they informed him. "I’m going to eat all of your food.” Spinning on their heel, they left Lance’s line of sight.

“You little shit,” he yelled, scrambling to his feet. “Leave my food alone.”

He dashed into the dining room just in time to see them roll their eyes. “Whatever you say, you fucking limp noodle.”

“Language,” Shiro said mildly.

Lance threw him a long-suffering look. “Pidge is bullying me.”

Keith plucked a grape from the bowl in the middle of the dining table and tossed it at him. “Pidge is not doing anything of the sort.”

Lance gaped at him. “Well, now you’re just flat out  _ assaulting _ me.”

Keith threw another grape. “And?”

Lance’s arms came up incredulously. “And?!”

“Children,” Allura sighed. “No fighting at the table.”

Hunk appeared, his arms laden with steaming dishes. “You two can have your fight or you can have your food,” he said sternly, making his way to the table. “Choose carefully.”

The mutually decided answer was, of course, the food.

  


Lance had always loved the stars.

They just seemed so bright to him, so far removed from problems or cares. If you were a star, your life’s purpose was to literally shine as brightly as you could before one day exploding into a dramatic and beautiful wreckage.

They were constant, too. You could try to map the sky and still have more than hundreds of years of work ahead of you, and yet you’d still know where you were.

You’d still be there, up among the cold and the black and the stars.

After they’d finished dinner, Lance had checked the weather forecast before promptly escaping to the beach only a few yards away from the beach house (“the Castle”, as Coran called it)’s back door, his heart almost as full as his stomach. He now stood in the cool night air, bare toes curled into the sand, waves crashing in front of him, stars shining down at him.

He was at peace.

That feeling of peace, to his surprise, wasn’t interrupted by the familiar, slightly husky voice that softly spoke up from behind him. “Hey,” it said. “I’m not interrupting you, am I?”

Lance lowered his head to smile at Keith, who had come to stand beside him. He was wearing his god-awful jacket that he had found in a thrift store somewhere, but he was still attractive enough that Lance’s heart and hormones were trying to do the salsa. “No,” he finally remembered to respond. “I was just watching the sky.”

Keith was quiet for a long moment. “It’s beautiful.”

Lance beamed. “Isn’t it?” He let the silence fill the air between them again before saying, “For the longest time, I wanted to be an astronomer when I grew up.”

Keith cocked his head. “But you’re studying for a biology major.”

Lance laughed, a bit sheepishly. “Yeah. I still love the stars and all, but I think I can help more people if I study biology. Learning about mutations in genes and all that.”

Keith breathed out a laugh. “Of course you want to help people.” A beat passed. “Is it...because of your grandmother?”

Lance whipped his head around to look at him. His eyes were shadowed by the dark and his wind-tossed hair, but he seemed sincere. “Y-you remembered me telling you that?” When Lance had been in his freshman year of high school, his abuela had become sick--lung cancer. She passed away a year and a half later and Lance, who had been particularly close to her, was devastated. He had decided to change his future career plans so he could have the potential to do something to help others fight similar diseases. He had proudly told Keith as such when they had first been paired as lab partners, and he was more than a little astonished that the other boy remembered.

“Of course I do,” Keith said, like his remembering should be an obvious fact. “I have to ask, though--you can’t even handle someone else cutting open a frog. How…?”

Lance shrugged. “I’ll figure it out. Maybe I can help digitally, you know?” He winked at Keith. “Amazing what they can do with technology these days.”

The moonlight highlighted Keith’s teeth as he grinned. “Fair enough.” He shivered. “We should probably go in before we freeze.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed.

Neither of them moved.

That is, neither of them moved until Keith possibly took a small step closer to Lance, their shoulders an inch away from brushing.

And Lance may have possibly leaned in that extra inch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is having a crisis and he can't stop blushing, but at least he got a mocha out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all~  
> Thanks for sticking with this (if you're a returner), or thanks for checking it out (if you're reading it for the first time). Please try not to kill me over the quality of this chapter--I wrote 2/3 of it while I was sick, and...ew.
> 
> Also, side note, I think we're getting to the end! I'll have to see how it shakes out with the ending of the next chapter, but I suspect that we've only got one or two more chapters to go. I've got some ideas for another fic with our favorite idiots lined up, though, so don't get rid of me just yet.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

Keith wanted his emotions to drop dead.

They were on their third (out of five) days at the Castle, and Keith was in a constant state of turmoil. It wasn’t sharp and dramatic turmoil either--it was a steady nagging feeling that just wouldn’t leave him alone.

He had zero problems with blaming it all on Lance.

Temporarily living together wasn’t really the issue; Keith was more or less used to that already. No, the main problem was that it was  _ too much _ . Keith would walk downstairs in the morning to get breakfast or whatever and Lance would already be there, sitting blearily at the kitchen island with a bowl of cereal and sleep mussed hair. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’d also developed a habit of  _ smiling  _ at Keith and it was  _ genuine  _ and  _ too fucking much  _ for Keith’s heart.

Breakfast was one thing, and maybe Keith would have been able to get by if that had been all that he had to deal with it. It wasn’t, of course, because the universe didn’t believe in cutting Keith a break. He kept seeing Lance doing ordinary, everyday things in ways that had zero business being as cute as they were. The way he hummed as he made himself a sandwich? Ugh. Or when Pidge made a bad joke and Lance’s nose had crinkled as he laughed? Gross.

So, yeah, Keith was in a bad mood. And yeah, he may have been taking it out on the others a bit more than he needed to. But it wasn't  _ his _ fault; Lance was entirely and completely to blame.

 

“You’re moping,” Pidge said, peering over at Keith. The two of them were sitting outside in the sand, halfway between the Castle and the waves. “Wasn’t the point of this whole thing to get  _ away _ from negative emotions?”

Keith squinted at them. “Uh...no?” He folded his knees up against him and rested his chin on top of them. “I’m not moping, anyway.”

Pidge rolled their eyes. “Yeah, nice try. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “Seriously.”

“I don’t believe you either,” a new voice said from behind the two of them. Turning, Keith and Pidge watched as Allura made her way over to them, her eyes sparkling with what Keith was pretty sure was a mixture of mischief and concern. She sat down next to Keith and leaned against his shoulder. “You’ve taken angst to a new level over, like, the last two days, and I’m torn between being impressed and worried.”

“You don’t need to worry,” Keith assured her, then sighed. “...It’s Lance.”

Pidge snorted. “Naturally. Did you and pretty boy get in another fight?”

Allura was the one who answered, slowly but confidently. “No, that’s not it.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “How would you know?”

“Because when you’re fighting, you both get really bitchy. You’re just moody, and Lance seems completely fine.”

Pidge inhaled sharply through their nostrils, loud enough that Keith could hear it clearly. “Oh,  _ wait-- _ ”

“Pidge,” Allura snapped. When Keith looked at her questioningly, she gave him an encouraging smile. “What’s wrong with Lance?”

“It’s not what’s wrong with him,” Keith groaned. “It’s what’s wrong with  _ me. _ ”

“That leaves a lot of things to choose from.” Pidge muttered.

Keith elbowed them. “That’s enough out of you.”

They snickered. “I’m just saying.”

“Keith,” Allura said soothingly. “We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what’s going on.”

Keith could feel his face heat up. In all honesty, he was surprised he had managed to keep from blushing for as long as he had. “I’m just...I’m sort of into him? In a way that’s not just ‘oh, he looks nice today’ but is, like, full-blown ‘he smiled at me and I’m going to fucking die’.” He squeezed his eyes shut, shoulders tensing. “And...yeah. That’s all.”

There was no response.

Then, right as the quiet was starting to get to him, Pidge blurted, “Are you  _ shitting _ me?”

Keith’s eyes flew open in disbelief. He had expected surprise or something, sure, but he didn’t think either of them would be so openly--

Pidge was still talking. “I spend an entire goddamn year,” they were saying, although it seemed to be aimed more at Allura than at Keith. “A  _ year  _ spent trying to get him to tell me what I already knew, and then you spend five minutes with him and he opens up like a fucking flood?”

Keith blinked at them, taken aback. “A year?”

“Yes,” they snarled. “A year.”

“Oh.” He blinked some more.

Allura cleared her throat delicately, drawing his attention. She was beaming at him, eyes now bright and proud. “We both knew, of course. I’m just glad that you felt that you could trust us enough to tell us.”

Keith balked. “What the hell does that mean, ‘of course’?”

She stared back at him like the answer was obvious. “Well, spend enough time with the two of you and it’s not hard to see how you feel.”

_ Shit. _ “Does Lance know?”

Pidge scoffed. “Are you kidding? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Keith felt like he was going to hyperventilate. “Is that a yes?”

They rolled their eyes. “No, Keith, it’s not a yes. If Lance knows, I will eat my own ass.”

Keith winced. “Unnecessary.”

Pidge shrugged. “It got my point across, didn’t it?” They sighed. “Look, you’ve got to get him to notice you if anything remotely romantic is ever going to happen between the two of you.”

Keith tilted his head to look at them. “But he has noticed me. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

From his other side he heard Allura sigh. “Come on, Keith. Not like that.”

He flushed. “Oh. You mean like--yeah, sorry.”

When he looked at her, he found her raising her eyebrows in mild amusement. “You have to start flirting with him.”

Keith gaped at her. “Uh, no.”

She smiled. “It’s basically the only way he knows how to communicate with potential partners.”

“I know.” Keith sighed. “I’ve just never been any good at flirting, especially when I’m serious about someone.”

She kept smiling, almost smugly. “What better time than this to practice?”

He squinted at her. “I don’t like the way your brain works.”

She laughed. “Too bad, you’re stuck with it. And I’m not kidding, Keith. Give yourself a chance.”

He sighed. “This is going to be a disaster, no doubts about it.”

Allura practically squealed. “Does that mean you’ll do it?”

“Maybe.” He gently pushed her off of him and climbed to his feet. “I’m going to go walk through the town, clear my head a little. Pidge, you suck. Allura, I love you.”

Pidge flipped him off. Allura blew him a kiss.

With a smile at them both he set off back toward the Castle, planning to pass through the house to get to the front of it and, from there, to walk to the town.

The town itself was a small place, about average in terms of beach towns. There was a main street, which was lined with small restaurants and tourist shops. Branching off of the main street were several more shops and businesses, and most everything beyond that turned into the residential area. Shiro and Lance had dragged Keith along with them to explore when they first arrived, but Keith hadn’t been back on his own since them.

 

He ended up in a small coffee shop that was hidden between two flashy gift shops. He had slipped inside and had almost immediately relaxed; there was only one other patron there, and he was deeply immersed in the book that was set on the table in front of him. The space was airy and bright, with large windows lining the front and the sides of the building. Pressed up against the wall directly across from the door was a counter made out of the same mahogany as the floor under it. Behind it stood the barista, and Keith watched as she looked up and made eye contact with him.

He approached her hesitantly, his eyes scanning the menu that was posted on the wall to the side of the counter. He wasn’t actually hungry, but he supposed he could nurse a drink while he sat and brooded about Lance.

“Hi,” the barista said, smiling at him. She was a young, bright-eyed girl. If Keith had to guess, he would probably place her age at thirteen or fourteen. “What can I get you?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you the only person working here right now?” The instant the words left his lips he flushed and held up his hands, trying to backtrack. “Not that--not that that’s a bad thing. I’m just surprised you’d only staff one person in the middle of the day.” He winced, lowering his hands. “I’m not making this better.”

Her smile didn’t falter, thankfully. “No, no, it’s okay. I’d be curious too. My mom and I own this place, and we live upstairs. Mom usually helps out down here too, but she’s got a cold so it’s just me today.”

“Oh.” Keith nodded, feeling awkward. “Um, good luck with that.”

She grinned. “Thanks! So, do you actually want to order something, or are you just looking around town?”

His blush returned full-force, and he fought the urge to hide his face. “Yeah, I’ll order something. How’s your--” he scanned the menu again. “--mocha when it’s made with soy milk?”

“Good enough that you should order it,” she replied, and Keith was honestly kind of impressed with the endurance of this kid’s smile.

He chuckled, reaching for his wallet. “Alright, then. A tall one of those, please. One shot.”

“Coming right up!” She chirped. He handed her the necessary money and she placed it in the cash register before bouncing off to make his drink. Keith leaned against the counter and watched her, bemused.

“She’s a ball of energy, right?” Someone asked. Keith glanced over his shoulder in surprise to find the man who had been reading now leaning back in his chair and smiling at him.

Keith nodded politely. “Sure seems like it.”

The man laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m Joshua, and that’s Daisy.”

Keith considered him for a moment before smiling a little. “Keith.”

Daisy came up behind him and placed a mug on the counter with a dull thud. “Here’s your drink. You’re from out of town, aren’t you?”

“Thanks,” Keith replied, hooking a finger through the handle of the mug and pulling it closer to him. “And yeah, I am. Some friends and I are visiting for a couple of days. I’m assuming you two live here?”

“I don’t, actually.” Joshua said. “Not technically. My family visits every year, from about now until early August, because we manage one of the summer rental businesses and people like to start getting their vacations locked and loaded.”

Daisy nodded. “Yeah, I’ve basically known him my entire life because of it. I, on the other hand, live here year-round. It’s quiet, and sort of lonely sometimes, but...I’m used to it.”

Keith took a sip of his mocha and hummed in appreciation. “Well, it clearly has done nothing but good for your coffee-making skills.”

She giggled. “Thanks.”

Something near Joshua’s elbow buzzed, and he looked down at it in surprise. When he turned to Keith again, he was holding a buzzing phone and an apologetic smile. “Sorry, it’s my girlfriend. Do you mind if I…?” He gestured toward the door.

Keith shook his head. “No, not at all. It was nice to meet you.”

“You too, Keith.” With one last smile, the other man--who actually looked to be about Keith’s age, now that he had gotten a better look at him--tucked his book under his arm, waved goodbye to Daisy, and headed for the entrance. As he pushed his way outside, Keith heard him say, “Hey, lovely, how are you?” before the door swung shut behind him.

“He’d been pining after her for a year and a half, maybe two years, when she finally asked him out.” Daisy said. Keith turned back to see her smile softly, eyes still fixed on the door. “He had no idea that she was interested in him too, and he almost blew a fuse from happiness.”

Keith couldn’t help himself; a pair of blue eyes flashed through his mind’s eye without his meaning to. “That sounds nice. To have your feelings reciprocated like that.”

“Wow,” Daisy said, raising her eyebrows. “You’ve got it bad.”

Keith sputtered, cheeks immediately flaming. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She laughed. “It means that I know pining when I see it.”

“Aren’t you, like, thirteen?” He grumbled.

She snorted. “Fourteen, actually. And you’re forgetting, I had to put up with Joshua for who knows how long.”

Keith ducked his head, staring into his rapidly cooling coffee. “That’s fair.”

“So…” She drawled. Keith raised his head enough to watch as she placed both elbows on the counter and leaned forward, cupping her chin in her hands. “Who’s the lucky gal?”

“Guy, actually.” Keith muttered. “He’s a friend of mine, which sort of makes it worse? But also better?”

Her expression, if possible, got even brighter. “He wouldn’t happen to be one of these friends you came on the trip with, would he?” When Keith didn’t say anything, she squealed and stood up straight, clasping her hands together. “That’s  _ great _ ! You’ll have to bring him here so I can meet him.”

Keith tried to suppress his smile. “I barely know you.”

“I know,” she sang. “But any guy who can make you blush like that has got be worth it.”

 

When Keith arrived back at the beach house, he planned to say hi to Shiro as proof he wasn’t lost in a ditch somewhere before hiding away in his room until hunger drove him out. Unfortunately, t he universe--and more specifically, a certain lanky boy who lived within it--had other plans.

Keith entered his room with his head down, lost in thought. He closed the bedroom door and slumped against it with a sigh. How the hell was he supposed to flirt with Lance? He could barely have a decent conversation with a fourteen year old  _ girl _ , for Christ’s sake.

“Hi,” a voice drawled from the bed. “Long day?”

Keith’s head whipped up so fast he felt his neck crack. Two familiar shining eyes stared back at him, accompanied by a smile that sent Keith’s heart running a hundred different ways.

“Lance?” He squeaked. “What the fuck?”

Lance winked from where he was laying in the middle of Keith’s bed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Keith rolled his eyes, his shoulders relaxing slightly. “Of course you did. You were lying in wait in  _ my  _ bed, dude.”

Lance laughed. “True.” He sat up, swinging his legs down so his feet could touch the floor. “Where did you go? I wanted to harrass you, but you up and vanished on me.” 

Keith crossed the room to sit on the other side of the bed. “I went for a walk into town. Met some people.” He took a deep breath. “Met a guy.”  _ Who was straight and taken, but… _

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” He smirked. “Planning a two-day fling, are you?”

Keith  _ pff _ ed and shook his head. “No. It just made me realize that, uh, I might run into him again.”

“Uh huh.”

“And he was pretty cute.”

“Uh huh.”

“And I’m absolute shit when it comes to flirting.”

“Uh  _ huh _ .”

“And, well, I was wondering if you could...teach me?”

Silence.

Keith wanted to do the biggest facepalm of all time. Of all of the horrible Lance-and-flirting scenarios he could think of, this had seemed like it was among the top three least terrible. It would involve Lance and flirting (more or less), and Keith might actually learn something from it.

He had conveniently forgotten that Lance needed to agree for the plan to work.

“Mullet,” Lance said, breathy and excited enough to make Keith hesitantly look his way. “Are  _ you  _ asking  _ me  _ to help you  _ flirt _ ?”

Keith winced. “That was the general idea, yes.”

Lance rolled across the bed, ending on his side with his face by Keith’s hip. “I would be  _ delighted _ .”

Keith looked down at him, shifting so he could see Lance’s face more clearly. “Wait, really?”

Lance propped himself up on an elbow. “ _ Duh. _ I’ve been wanting to do something like this for ages. When do we begin?”

Keith smiled slightly, torn between being flustered and being relieved. “Now, I guess?”

“Great,” Lance bounced upward, folding his legs in front of him. “Stand up in front of me.”

“Okay…” Keith did as he was told. “Why?”

“Because we gotta talk.” Lance said seriously.

Keith fidgeted. “Okay, so talk.”

“Tell me,” Lance’s eyes fixed on his, leaving Keith unable to look away. “Tell me about this guy.”

Well, crap.

“I mean, I don’t really know him.” Keith hedged. “We only talked for a couple of minutes. I just thought he was cute.”

Lance sighed. “Fine, we’ll do this a different way. I want you to imagine your ideal guy--personality and everything.”

Keith looked at him dubiously. “Teaching me to flirt cannot possibly be this complicated.”

Lance huffed out a laugh. “I know you, Keith, and I know that you’re going to be uncomfortable with pseudo-flirting with me.”

“No.” Keith replied without thinking. “No, I wouldn’t be uncomfortable at all.”

 

Wow.

Lance had been more than willing to help Keith with this “learning to flirt” business. They were friends, after all, and Keith’s romantic expertise was (frankly) abysmal. He had gone on several dates before, Lance knew, and he’d had a fairly serious boyfriend for a while, but how he’d actually gotten those people to go on dates with him was beyond Lance.

All in all, Lance was happy to commit to this. The  _ problem _ was that now Keith was looking at him with big, genuine eyes, the familiar grays and purples mixing together in their depths, and Lance’s brain was having to take a moment to catch up.

He was starting to realize how Keith had captured the attention of the previous men. He didn’t know how to properly flirt--that much was obvious--but the honesty shining in his eyes when he told Lance that he wouldn’t mind pseudo-flirting with him...yep.

Lance cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, aware that Keith was still waiting for an answer. “G-great. In that case, shall we begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in case you couldn't tell, I have no idea what's happening anymore.


	7. Final Chapter!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro is the real little shit in these parts of town, and two stupid boys are stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helllooooo.
> 
> My good, sweet beans...we have reached the final chapter! Ack. There's basically a novel in the end notes, so I'll try to keep these brief (like that's ever happened). I just wanted apologize real quick if you were expecting more biology in this fic because, let's be real, there were only like two scenes where anything even remotely bio-related happened. Also, fun point to clarify, the boys are actually supposed to be college age. They just keep referring to each other as "the other boy", because who wants to read the "young man" over and over again? Sorry, also, if Daisy and Joshua look nothing like you were picturing; it's kind of remiss on my part to only get around to describing them this chapter.  
> Finally! Lemme throw some promotion at you real quick. I have a new hc that Lance totally listens to ABBA because of this great fic by nikkiRA called "I'm riding higher than the sky and there is fire in every kiss", and you totally would too if you read it. Do that! (Aka I listened to too much ABBA while writing this b/c of that fic, and I need to feel justified)
> 
> Sorry for the not at all short notes. Enjoy reading, and thank you!!

Shiro had the vaguely ominous feeling that when Keith had stopped by his room to say hello, he hadn’t been okay.

Physically, he was fine. Shiro knew that. He hadn’t looked hurt or anything close to it, and he had even scrounged up a smile for his older brother. All the same, something about the encounter had left an unsettling feeling in Shiro’s gut.

That was the reason he was now completely confused.

He stood in the doorway of Keith’s room, the door open just enough for him to see inside. It was sort of surprising that neither of the pair within the room had heard him open the door, but he supposed that he would have been just as distracted if he was in one of their positions.

While Shiro wasn’t oblivious to Keith’s glaringly obvious feelings for Lance, he hadn’t thought he’d ever see his baby brother being so blatantly...flirtatious.

As he watched, Lance nodded and said something in a murmur that was too low for Shiro to hear. In an apparent response, Keith took a small step closer to the taller boy and smiled at him, laying his hand on his shoulder as he did so. They stayed like that for a moment before Lance laughed and, to Shiro’s bemusement, started clapping. “That was good!” He said, this time in a tone loud enough to carry to the door. “You’re getting much better. You look a lot smoother, and a lot more confident.”

Keith dropped his hand and took a step backward, his eyes downcast. “Yeah, well…” His voice was lower than Lance’s, but Shiro could still hear it if he strained a little. “That’s because I’m with you.”

Shiro was impressed. He had no idea what the two of them were doing, but he knew that if Keith was talking like  _ this  _ around Lance...the kid had it bad, in a way that Shiro hadn’t seen in a long, long time.

Inside the room, Lance (who was, for whatever reason, sitting cross-legged on the bed) flopped onto his back, his legs still folded. When he spoke again, his voice was clearly surprised. “Are you just being  _ friendly _ , then? Jesus, Keith, what do I do with you?”

“No,” Keith said quickly, raising his head. Shiro saw him smile, even as a faint flush spread across his pale skin. “No, I just meant that I know you, and I’m comfortable around you.”

Lance raised himself up on his elbows, peering over at Keith. “Are you trying to compliment me, mullet?”

Keith raised his shoulders in a shrug, a helpless look on his face. “I guess? It’s the truth, that’s all.”

They stared at each other.

Shiro rolled his eyes with a sigh, but he was unable to deny that he was smiling. These two were absolute idiots. With another small sigh, he stepped away from the door and headed back down the hall, running his fingers through his hair.

For their sake, he hoped they figured out their mutual feelings soon.

 

“I’m not a people person, you know that.” Keith was saying. “This is all great, in theory, but there’s a major difference between doing it to someone I know and trust and doing it to someone I just met.” He sat down next to Lance, his hands in his lap. “Thank you for trying, though. Really.”

Lance finally unfolded his legs, sitting up straight so he could be shoulder-to-shoulder with Keith. “If people aren’t attracted to you right off the bat, that’s on them.” He said, bumping his arm against Keith’s. “I mean, have you seen yourself in a mirror lately?”

Keith laughed softly, and Lance’s heart felt full. “I could say the same about you.”

Lance waved him off. “Nah. I’m pretty, sure, but I’m nothing special.”

The edges of Keith’s lips tilted downward. “That’s not true.”

Lance slapped his hands down on his thighs, clearing his throat. “ _ Any _ who, the flirting thing.” He turned his head to look Keith dead in the eyes. “I would be over the moon if you were into the idea of flirting--think of all the potential chaos we could cause! That being said,” he paused, made sure Keith was looking at him. “It’s really about you and what you’re comfortable with. You don’t want to go around flirting with random beach town guys? Don’t.”

Keith was watching him, some emotion in his eyes that Lance couldn’t place. “Thanks, Lance.” He said softly. “You’re a pretty good guy, you know that?”

“You say that now,” Lance muttered. “Just wait until tomorrow, and you’ll be back to ripping my head off.”

“You’re the instigator ninety-nine percent of the time,” Keith shot back, but there was no real heat behind it. They sat quietly for a minute or two before Keith cleared his throat, his shoulder shifting against Lance’s. “Speaking of tomorrow, do you want to go somewhere with me?”

Lance looked at him, surprised. “Yeah, okay.”

Keith’s eyebrows rose. “Just like that?”

Lance smiled. “Just like that.” He yawned, leaning a little more against the other boy. “Hey, when’s dinner?”

“Dunno,” Keith replied drowsily. “Might be soon. Might’ve already passed.”

Lance hummed. “Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Good.” He let his head rest on top of Keith’s shoulder. “Take a nap with me.”

“What?” Keith asked, suddenly sounding much more alert. He had tensed against Lance.

Lance sighed. “Please? No groping or anything, I promise.”  _ As much as I might want to _ , he added mentally.

“Why with me, though?” Keith still sounded uncertain.

Lance huffed out a breath through his nose. “Because you’re literally right here? Plus, you’re soft and warm, and I’m sleepy.” He raised his head to look at him pleadingly. “Please?”

Keith’s face was a rather delightful pink. “I don’t--”

Letting out a long exhale, Lance started to get up. “Look, it’s fine. No big deal. I didn’t mean to--”

“Hold on.” Keith’s hand shot out and wrapped around his arm. Lance watched in mild shock. “What I was going to  _ say _ was that I don’t see a problem with it.”

Lance felt himself brighten. “For real? Yesss.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re so weird. C’mon, let’s just go to sleep.” He let go of Lance’s wrist and swung his legs up onto the bed (which was a queen, thankfully, so they didn’t have to deal with weird spacing issues), scooting around and readjusting himself. When he was finally properly laying down, head on a pillow, he raised an expectant eyebrow at Lance. “You coming or what?”

Lance’s throat felt tight. Here was this gorgeous, sexy man who was literally laid out on a bed in front of him, and suddenly all he could think of was that Keith had wanted Lance to teach him how to flirt with  _ other people. _

It suddenly seemed like the worst concept in the world.

“Lance?” Keith was concerned now--it was obvious on his face and in his voice. “Is everything okay?”

No, everything was not okay. Everything was not okay, because Lance was having a mental break-down and  _ what _ the  _ hell _ ?

When the shit did this happen?

“Lance?” Lance was vaguely aware of clutching his chest, of Keith sitting up, of Keith calling his name again. “Lance!”

Lance hated that he sounded scared, hated that it was his fault. So he lowered his hands and pasted on a hopefully reassuring smile, but his mind wouldn’t stop reeling.

_ When when when  _ had he fallen in love?

“Lance.” Warm hands framed his face, grounding him. He locked eyes with Keith, surprise flitting through his veins. “You need to talk to me.” Keith’s words were so, so gentle, but his eyes--his eyes were wild and terrified. “What’s going on? Are you having heart problems?”

Lance shook his head hastily, forcing Keith to let go. “No, no, I’m sorry. I just spaced for a moment.”

“Spaced?” Keith repeated incredulously, his face tightening. He was kneeling on the bed in front of him, Lance realized. He hadn’t seen him move across the mattress. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Keith rubbed a hand across his face. “You grabbed your chest and you weren’t responding to anything I was saying,” he continued, his voice more subdued. “I--you really scared me, Lance.”

Lance did the only thing he could do; he wrapped his arms around Keith’s shoulders and buried his face in his neck. “I’m really, super sorry.” He muttered. “Something...occurred to me, and I kind of got distracted by it.”

Somewhat uncharacteristically, Keith barely hesitated before bringing his own arms up to return the hug. “Don’t do that to me again,” he replied, his voice muffled by Lance’s chest. “I’ve seen you distracted or spacing out before, but--” He cut himself off with a sigh. “You scared me.” His grip tightened ever so slightly. “Don’t scare me.”

“Never,” Lance breathed in response. He wasn’t sure Keith even heard it.

Keith pulled away first, letting go of Lance with a shaky laugh. “Sorry I freaked out,” he said, pulling his hair back for a moment before letting it fall free.

Lance shook his head. “Don’t be. I’m sure I would have done the same thing.” He cleared his throat. “Is that nap still an option?”

Keith’s eyes shone. “If you can manage it without taking ten years off of my life this time.”

Lance wanted to kiss him.

He managed to restrain himself and walked around to the other side of the bed instead, gritting his teeth. He couldn’t decide if he was elated or terrified. Luckily, he didn’t really get a chance to try and decide before Keith reached out and yanked him bodily down onto the bed. Lance’s subsequent stumble was not at all graceful, but at least it got him to where he needed to be.

“Okay,” Keith said, watching him. “Can we sleep now?”

Lance laughed a little. “Yeah, we can sleep now.”

They rearranged themselves properly, although they both stayed on top of the covers. Lance felt (and he assumed that Keith felt the same) that as soon as they were sharing a blanket, it became much more intimate--intimate in a way that Lance was not ready to deal with.

They lay on their respective pillows, facing each other. Just as Lance’s eyes started to slip shut, Keith cleared his throat. “Hey, I need to tell you something.”

Lance tried to blink himself back to alertness, but it didn’t really work. “Okay, what’s up?”

Keith fidgeted for a moment, his eyes darting away from Lance’s. “That guy I was talking about earlier?”

“The cute one?” Lance asked.

“Mhm. He, uh, I think he was straight. And he definitely had a girlfriend.”

Lance just looked at him, waiting for his point.

Keith sighed in apparent frustration. “I’m sorry, I just felt bad giving you the impression that he was interested in me in any way other than friendly.”

Lance smiled. “Are you kidding? Any excuse that gets Keith Kogane interested in the fine arts of love...I’m taking it.”

Keith’s eyebrows were still furrowed, however. “You’re not angry?”

Lance reached out and, very lightly, pressed the tips of his fingers to Keith’s cheek. “No,” he said. “I’m not angry.”

To his relief, Keith relaxed. “Okay.” He exhaled. “Good.”

Lance smiled again and let his eyes drift closed.

Silence reigned and Lance was almost completely asleep when he felt something that made him struggle to keep his breathing even.

Keith had curled forward, snuggling up against Lance.

“Sorry,” he muttered into Lance’s neck. “I can move away if you want…” He trailed off, his breath warm on Lance’s skin. When Lance didn’t (couldn’t) say anything, he mumbled something unintelligible and moved even closer, pressing their bodies together.

Lance couldn’t stop his smile. Who would have guessed that Keith would be a cuddler?

With a happy, satisfied sigh, he looped one arm around Keith’s waist, resting it there like it belonged. The two of them were incredibly physically close and, to Lance, it felt like home.

He drifted off with a smile on his face.

 

Shiro hadn’t gone back upstairs to call Keith and Lance down to dinner, mostly because he didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever it was that they had been doing. When the two of them failed to show up to the meal at all, however, his brotherly instincts kicked in and he had no reservations about going to check on them...and damn the consequences.

Having reached Keith’s door, he knocked one, two times. There was no response, so he waited another moment before easing open the door and peering in.

He had to cover his mouth with both of his hands to stop himself from cooing in delight.

Keith and Lance were tangled together on the bed, their legs intertwined and Lance’s arm draped over Keith’s middle. Keith’s face appeared to be buried in Lance’s neck, and some of Keith’s hair had strewn itself across Lance’s cheek.

Both of them were also sound asleep.

Shiro was nothing if not a good older brother, which meant that he immediately pulled out his phone and started taking pictures, all of which he sent to Keith.

He also sent one to Matt, and his phone buzzed with a reply seconds later.

**M: Oh my god**

**M: Why aren’t we that cute?**

Smiling, Shiro responded.

**S: We don’t have the whole “unrequited idiots” thing working for us anymore**

**M: Yeah but stillllllllllll**

**M: Wait, hold up. It’s still unrequited? And they’re going around acting like that?**

**S: Cradling each other in their arms and everything…**

 

Keith woke up refreshed, warm, and slightly disoriented. His face was pressed into something firm and soft, and he frowned, trying to puzzle it out. He had just laid down, hadn’t he? He hadn’t--

His eyes flew open. He knew what his face was pressed against, and he was ninety percent sure that a very awkward conversation was headed his way. It was one thing to platonically fall asleep with the guy you were head-over-heels for, but  _ falling asleep curled into him and waking up with your face pressed against his chest?  _ Keith was not okay.

“Mm,” a sleepy voice said from somewhere above him. “Keith, dude, you didn’t drool on my shirt, did you?”

Keith immediately flushed. “No, of course not.” His voice was raspy, and he cleared his throat in embarrassment. He tried to push backward, away from Lance. To his surprise and horror (and hesitant pleasure), he was unable to. There was something around his waist that was keeping him from rolling away and he froze, confused. What was happening?

Lance’s laugh rumbled through his chest and vibrated into Keith. “Is everything okay, mullet?”

Keith sighed. “Fine.”

The thing around his waist was apparently Lance’s arm, as he discovered when the taller boy used his grip to pull Keith even closer, if that was possible. “So, are we going to talk about this?” He asked.

“Talk about what?” Keith replied, his voice muffled by Lance’s shirt.

Lance made a sound that wasn’t quite a scoff. “You’re kidding, right? I literally woke up with you in my arms.”

“And whose fault is that?” Keith grumped. After a moment of pointed silence from Lance, Keith sighed again. “Okay, whatever. We’ll talk about it. I hope you’re aware, though, that is was your idea to take a nap.”

“A nap?” Lance repeated. “Keith, it’s light outside. We slept through the whole night.”

Keith stilled. “We what?”

“I thought you knew!” Lance exclaimed. His arm still hadn’t moved.

“Why would I know that?” Keith snapped. “I can’t see anything. Your chest is in the way.” He pushed against said chest with both hands just as Lance finally let go, which meant that Lance, who had been on his side facing Keith, toppled over onto his back from the unexpected pressure. Keith, to his mortification, landed half on top of him, his hands braced against Lance’s chest.

Lance looked up at him, breathless and tousled. “Like being on top, do you?”

_ He’s beautiful,  _ Keith thought. A beat later, Lance’s words registered and he lifted his hands up like they were on fire. “I--no. What?”

Lance laughed. His cheeks were rosy, his eyes were still vaguely sleepy, and Keith’s poor gay heart was going to explode. “I’m just teasing, relax.”

Keith scowled. “I thought we were going to talk.”

“Oh,  _ now _ he wants to talk.” Lance said laughingly. “No more discussing sex preferences, huh?”

“ _ Lance. _ ”

“Okay, alright.” Lance moved backward to prop himself up on the pillows. “I just wanted to make sure that you aren’t uncomfortable with us, you know, sleeping together.”

His mind full of R-rated things (fucking  _ thanks _ , Lance), Keith’s brain immediately went to the wrong place. “Um--”

Lance laughed again, although his pupils looked a bit more dilated than they had a second before. “Get your mind out of the gutter, man. I mean all things innocently.”

Keith sputtered. “I can’t believe you know what that words means. Refresh my memory--who was just bringing up sex?”

Lance grinned. “It’s one of my favorite topics. Besides, I like to watch you blush.”

Keith grunted and made his way to the edge of the bed, not looking at Lance. “Could you just get out of my room, please?”

There was silence, and then the sound of rustling sheets. Before Keith was really aware of it, the warmth of a human being was pressed against his back. Lance draped himself over Keith, resting his chin on his shoulder and letting his arms hug him from the back. “Please don’t kick me out, Keithy.”

Keith tried and mostly succeeded in fighting back his smile. “That’s an awful nickname. Don’t call me that.”

He heard some more shifting, and then Lance’s legs appeared on both sides of Keith's hips. “Are you rejecting my affections?” Lance asked.

“Yes,” Keith replied instantly. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“I don’t regret it,” Lance said suddenly. “Even if it makes things weird when we’re together, I don’t regret sleeping with you. I think it may have been one of the best nights of sleep I’ve ever gotten.”

Good lord. Was this boy actually trying to make his heart explode? “Look,” he said, trying to keep his blush to a minimum. “I get it. You’re a physical person, we were both tired; it’s okay.”

“No, that’s not--” Lance was interrupted by a loud growl.

Keith smirked. “Was that your stomach or mine?”

“Mine, I think.” Lance said. He almost sounded reluctant, but Keith brushed it off.

“Great. Let’s go get some breakfast, then. We skipped dinner, and I’m starving.” He wiggled in Lance’s hold. “That means you’ve got to detach, fungus.”

“Do I have to?” Lance sounded like he was pouting.

Keith wiggled some more. “Lance.”

The arms around him tightened. “Keith.”

Keith turned his head slightly toward Lance, brushing their cheeks together. “If I don’t get food in the next five minutes, I’m going to start eating you.”

“Wow,” Lance snorted. “Kinky.”

Keith left him laughing on the bed.

 

When Lance finally made his way downstairs, he found Keith at the dining room table. The idiot had a bowl of cereal in front of him, but it looked almost completely untouched and he was staring blankly ahead of him with a dazed look in his eyes.

“Hey,” Lance knocked on the table to get Keith to pay attention to him. “Weren’t you the one complaining about being hungry? Your cereal is going to get all soggy if you just sit there like that.”

Keith blinked, awareness coming back into his expression. “Oh, right. Yeah.”

Lance frowned. “You good?”

Keith, who had finally taken a bite, couldn’t really do anything but nod. Once he swallowed, he nodded again. “I’m kinda out of it, sorry. Do you know what time it is, by any chance?”

“I do, in fact.” Lance reached into the back pockets of his jeans. “You know what they say--early to bed, early to rise.” He glanced down at his phone, which he was now holding in his left hand. “It’s six forty-five.”

Keith’s shoulders slumped.  “Gross.”

Lance shrugged. “At least we get the house to ourselves for a bit.” He held up his right hand. “I have your phone, too. It was under your pillow, and I was worried that you might not find it later.” He placed the phone on the table and slid it over to Keith, who grunted a thanks. “I couldn’t help but notice that you have quite a few texts from Shiro,” he continued nonchalantly. “There’s not a problem, is there?”

In response, Keith unlocked his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and started to flush the darkest red that Lance had ever seen him turn before.

“Woah,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “He didn’t send you links to porn or anything, did he?”

Keith just shook his head, slamming his phone face-down on the table. “Are you still hungry?” It was a complete 180 in the conversation, but Lance decided that he was willing to play along.

“Hungrier.” He replied. “Why do you ask?”

Keith pushed back from the table and walked into the kitchen, reappearing a minute later with a notepad and a pen in his hands. “Because I want to leave before Shiro wakes up, and I told you I wanted to take you somewhere today.” He scrawled something on the notepad before propping it up against his still mostly full bowl.  _ For Pidge _ , it said in Keith’s surprisingly nice handwriting. At Lance’s look, Keith shrugged. “What? They’ll eat basically anything and I lost my appetite, so it doesn’t matter how soggy it gets.” He started for the front door. “Get your coat and your shoes, then. We’re going to go buy you some coffee.”

Lance scrambled after him. “There better be some damned food involved too.”

Keith waved him off. “There will be, don’t worry. I wouldn’t let you starve.”

Lance snorted. “The only level of commitment I need from a man.”

Keith flashed him a grin over his shoulder. “Sounds like I’m exactly your type, then.”

_ Oh, yeah.  _ Lance thought ruefully, bending to grab his shoes.  _ More than you could ever know. _

 

Whatever Lance had been expecting, the Lion’s Den wasn’t quite it. It was a cute little place, sure, and the tell-tale smell of coffee beans hung in the air, but it seemed too...quiet.

“You’re used to city coffee shops, that’s all.” Keith said as they entered. When Lance looked over at him, surprised, he shrugged. “You looked unnerved.”

“Hello,” someone called from the other end of the room, and Lance looked away from Keith to find a young girl staring at them. “Welcome.” She continued. Her gaze landed on Keith, and her face broke into a smile. “Hey, Keith. Glad you came back.”

Keith smiled and walked closer. Lance followed quietly. “Hi, Daisy. Good to see you again.”

“You’re lucky we’re open,” she said teasingly. “I could have left you out in the cold. I hear it’s supposed to rain later.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Luck, schmuck. I read the sign outside with your hours on it yesterday, and I knew you’d be open.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. If he had been here yesterday, did that mean that this was where he had met the “cute” guy? 

_ The cute guy who has a girlfriend _ , Lance reminded himself. It didn’t stop the rising bubble of what felt a lot like jealousy.

He was jolted back into paying attention when Daisy finally turned to grin at him. “And who’re you?”

Keith cleared his throat. “This is my friend, Lance.”

Daisy’s eyes snapped back to Keith’s. “Your  _ friend _ ?”

He nodded, almost imperceptibly. “My  _ friend. _ ”

Her eyes--which were a rather nice shade of brown--went back to Lance. “Nice to meet you, Lance.”

“Uh, thanks.” Lance said, utterly confused. “Nice to meet you too.”

“So,” she said, clapping her hands together. “What can I get you two?”

Lance eyed the bakery case. “I’m starving. Any suggestions?”

“Sure,” she chirped. “The blueberry muffins are fantastic. Classic, too. The strawberry croissants are nearly as good.”

Lance nodded. “Two blueberry muffins and a cup of black coffee for me, please.”

Keith sighed. “Can we get some creamer with that too?” To Lance he muttered, “You always regret getting just plain black. Stop showing off.”

Lance gave him his best  _ hmph _ . “I would never.”

Keith rolled his eyes and turned back to Daisy, who was typing their order into the cash register and smiling faintly. “Just some water for me, please.”

Her smile disappeared in an instant. “What? But that’s so boring!”

Keith looked at her.

She pouted, pushing a few stray pieces or copper-colored hair out of her eyes. “At least get some orange juice.”

“Okay,” Keith grunted, although Lance could swear that he saw the hint of a smile. “I’ll get some orange juice.”

She winked at him as she finished ringing them up. “Good choice.”

They (Keith) paid, and they went to sit at a table while Daisy got them their things. Keith watched her, and Lance watched him. After a moment he spoke, because when had staying silent ever gotten him anywhere? “You like her, don’t you?”

Keith smiled, looking over at him. “I do, yeah. She…” He faltered, rubbing the back of his neck in a very Shiro-like gesture. “She reminds me of you.”

Woosh. There went Lance’s blush, as on time as always. “R-really?”

“Yeah.” Keith crinkled his nose, considering. “She’s cuter than you, though.”

Lance gasped, pressing a hand to his heart. “How dare you.”

Keith was obviously trying not to smile, and it was adorable how badly he was failing. “Am I wrong though? I mean, honestly.”

Lance studied the girl in question as she made her way toward them, a loaded tray in her arms. “She’s pretty cute,” he admitted. “I’m still cuter.”

Daisy arrived at their table, obviously having heard the last part of his statement. “I’m sure Keith thinks so,” she said nonchalantly, placing items on the table. “An orange juice, two blueberry muffins, and a black coffee. With creamer and sugar on the side,” she added with a less than subtle glance at Keith. “Sorry, I just kind of assumed you’d be eating here.”

“It’s great,” Lance assured her. “Thanks so much.”

“Perfect!” She beamed. “I’ll go ahead and go read at the counter, then. Please let me know if you need anything. Bathrooms are right over there, and they should be unlocked.” With a final smile, she bounced off.

“I feel like we’re in a restaurant.” Lance stage-whispered to Keith, who huffed in amusement.

“It’s seven in the morning. She’s probably bored and trying to stay awake,” he replied.

Lance broke off part of his first muffin. “Hey, no one said I was complaining.”

Keith pulled out his phone and his wallet and placed them on the table. “Would you mind watching these for a few minutes? I’m going to run to the bathroom.”

“Yeah, go for it.” Lance responded. He’d devoured two-thirds of the first muffin in two bites, and he tossed the last third into his mouth as Keith left the table. As he chewed, his gaze caught and lingered on Keith’s phone.

Months ago, Lance and Pidge had discovered Keith’s password. Pidge had been on a snooping kick, and Lance had been curious, bored, and willing to help (although he kind of just watched in astonishment as Pidge hacked into the phone in less than thirty seconds). They hadn’t done anything malicious, but Lance, as a result of the whole thing, had gone and memorized Keith’s password without meaning to. He hadn’t ever abused the knowledge, but here was Keith’s phone in front of him, and Lance was a nosy dude. What could Shiro have possibly sent Keith that would require him to all but flee the Castle?

With a quick glance toward the bathroom door, Lance wiped the crumbs and grains of sugar off of his hands and pulled the phone toward him, turning it on and typing in the password as quickly as he could. He was glad Daisy didn’t look over at him because, admittedly, he looked kind of sketchy.

He opened the messaging app, pleased to find Shiro’s name at the top. That made his self-assigned task easier. He clicked on the conversation, and nearly dropped the phone as his heart melted. He had woken up a few minutes before Keith and had taken advantage of that time to simply hold the other boy and stare down at his disheveled black hair, but he hadn’t imagine that the two of them had looked so...together.

He knew that he was running out of time, but Lance couldn’t stop himself from flipping through the photos once more before exiting out of the app and locking the phone, placing it back where it had been.

He was just in time, too. The bathroom door opened and Lance hastily picked up his mug to take a drink, trying to act casual. He watched Keith as he made his way back to the table. He was almost there when the door to the coffee shop opened, and a young man walked in. His eyes landed on Keith and he smiled widely. “Keith!”

Keith’s responding grin was tinged with something that Lance refused to acknowledge as bashfulness. “Hey, Joshua. How are you?”

The newcomer, Joshua, nodded. “I’m doing well, thanks. Sorry our conversation got cut short yesterday.”

Keith shrugged. “Really, don’t worry about it. I headed back to the house pretty soon after you left anyway.”

It figured that this was the guy that drove Keith to ask Lance for freaking flirting lessons. He  _ was _ cute, with sharp blue eyes, ruffled honey blond hair, and a solid profile that Lance could imagine himself getting dreamy over.

Joshua finally noticed Lance, and Lance saw his eyes dart to Keith’s empty chair, then to Lance, then back to Keith. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to keep you. It was nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, you too.” The smile Keith gave him was small and purely friendly, but the genuine kindness behind it made Lance’s chest hurt. How was he supposed to get Keith to smile at him like that?

Keith walked back over and sat down. After a moment, Lance realized that he was watching him in concern. “Everything okay?” He asked.

Lance blinked. “Yes, of course. Everything’s great.”

“‘Yes, of course’?” Keith repeated. “You sound like Allura. You sure you’re good?”

Lance tried to force away whatever weird feeling was filling up his chest. He managed a wink at Keith, although it was entirely possible that he looked more constipated than sexy. “Never been better.”

“Hmm.” Keith eyed him, taking a gulp of his orange juice. “If you’re sure."

Lance concentrated on eating his remaining muffin, muttering “I’m sure.”

They finished eating and drinking in silence, and Lance stared at the table contemplatively as Keith got up to bus the dishes. He was acting oddly; he knew that. He also knew that Keith would want an explanation sooner or later, and Lance was going to have to figure out what the flipping hell he should tell him.

Keith wasn’t his. He had no claim on the guy, and no right to be disgruntled when Keith did nothing more than  _ smile _ at another man. He also knew himself, though, and he knew what the root of the issue was. Lance was a jealous bastard, and he didn’t want anybody so much as looking at Keith, for fear that they might steal him away before Lance could tell him how he felt.

He groaned and propped his elbows on the table, burying his face in his palms. In other words, he had some problems and he was definitely going to hell.

“Lance?” Keith said from behind him, sounding concerned. “What happened?”

Lance jerked upward, dropping his hands. “Ah--nothing! You ready to go?”

Keith moved into his line of sight, his arms crossed and wearing a scowl that, on the Keith-scowl-scale, was quite impressive. “That’s all I get?”

Lance shrugged. “There’s nothing more to have.”

Keith just looked at him. “I can’t believe you.”

Lance glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Keith looked like he couldn’t decide between laughing and storming out of the shop. “Oh, come on. Don’t act like you’re not doing anything. You don’t want to tell me, fine, but at least have the decency to acknowledge what I’m talking about.”

Chastised, Lance lowered his gaze to the table once again. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

Keith exhaled a long, drawn out breath. “Thank you. Let’s go back to the house, yeah? Maybe you’ll be willing to tell me what’s going on later.”

“Maybe,” Lance mumbled.

Keith called a goodbye to Daisy and Joshua, the latter having settled down with a book at a table near the counter. Daisy waved enthusiastically, and Joshua looked up long enough to smile at him and Lance. Lance thought he saw Daisy wink, too, but he couldn’t be sure.

The two of them set out into the town, shrouded in a tense silence. Keith’s hands were stuffed into the pockets of his jacket, his shoulders hunched, and Lance sighed.

He’d screwed up.

Just as the Castle came into view, Lance was struck with an idea. He reached out excitedly to stop Keith, smiling. “Hey, wait. Let’s loop around back and go down to the beach.”

Keith squinted at him. “Why.”

Lance pouted. “Be _ cause _ . Please?”

Keith sighed, although the edges of his lips tilted upward. “Alright, we’ll go and get sand everywhere.”

Lance  _ pff _ ed and grabbed his arm to hurry him along as they started walking again. “Everybody knows that you go to the beach for the water, Keith. No one cares about the sand.”

“I care about it when I’m finding it in my clothes for days afterward.” He shot back. “Besides, everybody does  _ not _ know that.”

Lance waved him off, seeing the beach appear. “Whatever, killjoy. Some of us just appreciate nature more than others.”

Keith scoffed. “I can appreciate nature as well as the next person. I just prefer to do it from inside, like looking out through a window or something.”

“I bet you don’t like fresh air either.” Lance muttered. Keith didn’t respond.

They made their way down to the water’s edge and Keith shivered, pulling his coat tighter around him. “It’s so cold down here. You’re lucky I’m such a good friend.”

Lance took a deep breath--that was as good of a segue as any. “Actually,” he hedged.

Keith groaned, the wind coming off the water tossing and tangling his hair. “Oh, my god, Lance. You aren’t back on the ‘rivals’ thing, are you? I thought you got over that ages ago.”

“I did!” Lance protested. “Let me speak, will you?”

Keith gestured for him to continue.

Lance inhaled another salty breath of air, trying to find his courage and the proper words. After a moment, he decided to just suck it up. Worst case scenario, their friendship would be a bit awkward for a while...right? “I don’t like it,” he breathed. “When other guys flirt with you. They could steal you away from me, and then where would I be? That’s what was bothering me earlier.”

Keith turned his head to stare at him blankly. “...what?”

Lance threw his hands into the air in exasperation. “I mean that I lov--like you, you dickwad! I’m tired of feeling ridiculous and jealous every time you talk to a cute guy who’s not me, and I thought you should finally fucking know. Take it or leave it.”

Keith just stared at him. His eyes, which had a purplish tint in the early morning light, were wide and unblinking, and Lance couldn’t tell if the blush in his cheeks was from the wind or from the words that Lance had all but chucked at him.

When he continued to say nothing, Lance nodded sadly and tried to keep his breaking heart off of his face. “You’re leaving it, then. Okay. Um, I’m going to head inside, I think, and--”

He’d barely started to turn away, his heart tearing in half, when Keith’s hand shot out and wrapped around his wrist. “Wait,” Keith said. “Wait.” 

Then, suddenly, Keith was directly in front of Lance, close enough that Lance could feel his breath on his face. “You like me?” He asked.

Lance laughed, helplessly. “Like you? Mullet, I’m fucking head over heels for you.”

In the blink of an eye, a pair of warm lips were pressed against his. It wasn’t a big and passionate kiss; it was small and contained and almost desperate.

It was also basically all being done by Keith.

The raven-haired boy pulled back after a second, blinking. “I-I’m sorry, did I read this wrong? I thought we were both--”

Lance, whose brain had short-circuited the instant Keith’s lips had touched his, jolted back to life. “No,” he blurted. “No, you didn’t read it wrong. I...my brain just…” Grunting in frustration at being unable to voice his feelings, he took a tiny step forward, reclosing the small gap that Keith had put between them. “Didn’t read it wrong at all,” he breathed, his hands coming up to tangle in the hair at the base of Keith’s neck. This time when Lance tilted his head down and their lips met, he was aware enough to tilt his head for better access, finding the perfect way to slot their mouths together.

A wolf-whistle broke them apart, although Lance left his arms twined around Keith’s neck. Approaching them were the rest of the Castle’s current inhabitants. They were all grinning, and Pidge whistled again. “It’s about damn time,” they yelled, still smiling.

Keith had turned an adorable shade of dark pink. “What the hell.”

Shiro lifted his phone and snapped a picture just as Lance leaned down to plant a kiss on Keith’s cheek. His ringer was on, which meant that they all heard the loud  _ chk _ sound. Keith whipped his head around to glare at his brother. “Delete that.”

Shiro laughed. “No.”

“You dick.” Keith tore himself out of Lance’s hold and Shiro, grinning like a fiend, took off toward the Castle in a dead sprint. Keith started to go after him before pausing, hesitating, and hurrying back to Lance for another quick peck on the lips. “I love you,” he murmured, and Lance felt the words reverberate down to his toes.

Before he could reply, Keith was gone.

        ------------------

**S: (sent a picture)**

**M: fucking finally.**

 

FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy heck? We're done? Thank you so so much to everyone who read, liked, and/or commented on this fic. It means the world to me. I kind of can't believe it's done and I'm a bit surprised by the result, but I'm still quite proud. I may possibly come back to this and write a little domestic Klance epilogue, but no guarantees. Also, I love my boys and I'll definitely be back with a new story sooner or later. I have a couple of ideas lined up for future fics, but please hit me up with any suggestions you may have in the comments.  
> Thank you, lovelies! <3


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